Melancholy humour in snowbound bus stop

Aug 3 2010 by Alan Sykes, The Journal

Bus Stop, Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, in repertory until November 3

BUS Stop, which became a film starring Marilyn Monroe, is set entirely within a diner in a small town in the American Mid West.

A bus comes into town and the passengers have to spend the night there as the road ahead is blocked by snow.

As the night wears on, the passengers come to reveal their vulnerabilities and inner loneliness.

The set, by the theatre’s resident designer Martin Johns, is, as usual, excellent.

Amy Ewbank, as Cherie, in the Marilyn Monroe part, manages to convey just the right mix of defenceless immaturity and seasoned cynicism.

Over the course of the night, she weighs up the options of marrying bombastic but virginal Beau (played by Christopher Webster) – “but I just can’t see myself going to some godforsaken ranch in Montana where I’ll never see no one but him and a lotta cows” – and returning to her life as a chanteuse in a seedy-sounding night club in Kansas City.

Stephen Ley is superb as Dr Gerald Lyman, a slightly louche ageing alcoholic who has an extensive range of Shakespeare quotations.

He plans the seduction of ingenuous high school student Elma Duckworth (played with eager charm, but fortissimo, by Rebecca Elliot) though pulls back from carrying it out when attacked by pangs of conscience”.

Patrick Bridgman’s wistful sensitive Virgil and Robert Calvert’s firm but sympathetic sheriff are also excellent.

This is an intelligent, thought- provoking production which combines melancholy and humour in just the right balance. Highly recommended.