FILUMENA AT THE ARTS THEATRE
Photographs by Jack Merriman
Matthew Kelly’s massive frame shakes with fury as he storms, ranting with rage, on to the stage. He is Don Domenico Soriani ,an entitled Neapolitan grandee with a privileged background - and a reputation as a sexual buccaneer behind him . In fact he is still a seducer , the latest mistress is a lascivious ‘nurse’ ( played with hilarious super seductive powers by Jodie Steele) . But all is not well. His long term lover Filumena has tricked him into an end -of -life marriage when she is very far from death’s door. Her last words were never said. It was a hoax to get her hands on the house and his noble name. Little wonder he is furious. Felicity Kendal,, England’s favourite actress surely, plays the trickster with a cool hand. She never gets emotional, in 35 years, she claims, Don Domenico has never seen her shed a tear – so now she feels she has her just desserts within her reach.
Photo by Jack Merriman
It isn’t long before this fraud is unmasked. Pedantic lawyer Nocello played by Ben Nealon, is a superbly creepy advocate and explains in comic detail just how mistaken- and defeated she is. What is Filumena to do? Don Domenico knows he took her years before, from a brothel in Naples - but he does not know some hugely important facts she has kept from him. Her long held secrets turn out to be her strongest cards. What follows is a robust romp of a plot with plenty of high theatrical energy. Gavin Fowler, Fabrizio Santino and Michele supply a wonderfully energetic force as the threesome at the heart of the play - and the Rosalia Solimene gives a convincing devoted servant with the keys to secrets in her hands.
Felicity is adorable as ever in this role. Who could not fall in love with Filumena as she schemes her way through her own fate. If Matthew Kelly is in a comedy, she is in a kind of heart tugging tragedy. Which will win out?
Photograph by Jack Merriman
Hard to pin down where this wonderfully -realized story fits into the world of theatre. We see a glorious upper class drawing room full of antiques and flowers. - a joy to behold for an evening. The play has all the romance of an eighteenth century situation comedy – think The Marriage of Figaro – where the servants get the better of the gullible master. Or A genre of Italian capers like The Servant of Two Masters – but with less slapstick . Or Moliére’s Tarfuffe when we watch the mighty fall from their thrones and justice is done by the long suffering minions.
Yet this is no comedy. Filomena has risen from the direst of poverty in the slums of Naples. She deserves a better deal. Soon she plays her trump card. And what a stunner it is. The audience withdraws for the interval to ponder just how the play will get out of this surprise conundrum.
The second half marks a transformation. What has happened? There are flowers on the table, but more of them. All becomes clear in a truly heart-warming dénouement- the faithful servants gather round, Julie Legrand , Rosalia, the deliciously cheeky Lucia , Sarah Twomey who has sustained the plot with charming skilll and Hilary Tones, a long suffering fixer her role as key fixer completed. In a few short significant words the pieces fall into place.
Explosion of feeling at Filumena photograph Jack Merriman
