Written and set in 1932, just fifteen years on from the end of the First World War and three years after the Wall Street Crash, For Services Rendered is Somerset Maugham's penetrating state-of-the-nation play that unpicks the changed world of a dwindling post-war little England. The Ardsley family are the archetype of provincial middle-class England, and are hosting guests at their home for a genteel summer party. It's a picture of tennis whites, clipped King's English, tea, and cucumber sandwiches; however when this surface is scratched there is uncertainty lurking just underneath. Eldest daughter Ethel is married to a retired officer-turned-farmer, not born into the moneyed privilege she was and is very obviously never allowed to forget it by her sisters. Eva is unmarried and approaching forty, martyring herself to the cause of their brother Sydney, another veteran who, having been blinded in the war, passes his days idly playing chess and bridge. Finally, youngest daughter Lois, twenty-six, single and apparently with no hope of marrying in the remote Kent village where they live, plots her escape from the stifling family home. In the face of such strain only their father, Leonard, remains blissfully, blithely unaware; he sits giving thanks for the wellness of his family with his nice cup of tea.
This production by the Lace Market Theatre, marking the start of their new season, is a mixed bag. There are some good supporting performances by Graeme Jennings as decorated former naval officer, and now struggling local garage owner, Collie, Cynthia Marsh (last seen up to her neck in sand in Beckett's Happy Days) as mother Charlotte, who comes into her own in Act III, and the standout Helen Barton, who plays the subtext of her part with nuance, as unhappy Ethel. The rest of the cast were a little short of polish, which should come during the run, although David Pain's Dr Prentice was played with too much pompous bluster and posturing.
In its direction, the stage action overall lacked a cohesiveness, with moves having little action behind them and, whilst a nice motif, the looking glass metaphor of seeing through the masks the characters put on themselves was not used to its fullest. The ending was also rather clumsily handled in its over-action; lacking a still and reflective calm to emphasise each character's isolation when facing their uncertain futures. That said, with one notable exception of a three-minute blacked-out scene change which could have been handled in a far more interesting way, the production has a real pace to it. The script charges along like a bull escaping the china shop and running through the streets of Pamplona; it is the real star of the show. Maugham's writing, in its deconstruction of its contemporary thirties drawing-room comedies, smashes their conventional dramaturgy, gives the whole evening a charged feel, and allows its audience to become totally engaged.
The play, starting in such well-mannered surroundings and crying out for a traditional, recognisable comic plot, is instead liberated, giving voice to issues of unhappiness, un-fulfillment, illness, unrequited sexual advances, and small-minded bigotry toward class and disability. All of the characters are flawed but Maugham reserves his judgement on most, save for those too caught up in themselves to see what is happening before their eyes. For Maugham the greatest vices are vanity and self-interest. All these vulgarities that one ought not put on the stage are thrown wide open and a vicious, discontented anti-war message comes roaring out to a country and play-going public that at the time didn’t want to hear. Unsurprisingly, when first produced the play was unpopular, deemed unpatriotic, and ran for only 78 performances.
The writing isn't just commendable in its structure - there are great speeches too, most notably in Act III when the play accelerates even further. Charlotte finding her freedom after receiving the prognosis on her unknown illness was beautifully uplifting and Sydney's acerbic outburst on the futility of war is eerily prophetic as in less than a decade the country would again find itself at war, and again consign another generation of young men and women to the same fate. So too are the more contemporary echoes of those who, having lost everything in a stock market crash, are forced like Collie to make terrible decisions.
This was a thoroughly engaging night at the Lace Market Theatre, who have also refurbished their toilets and made upgrades to other parts of the building over the summer, and, despite the mild criticisms of the production, this is a brilliantly worthwhile evening at the theatre; seeing a rarely-performed piece of exemplary British playwriting.
For Services Rendered runs at The Lace Market from Monday 7 October to Saturday 11 October 2014.
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