Still Life and Red Peppers


Still life and Red Peppers are two single-act plays which, in combination, are killer. Both with a bit of romance, a lot of comedy and a hint of the sinister, this double feature showcases Coward’s writing at its best.

Focusing on the lifespan of an affair, and the affairs of a cabaret act backstage, the two plays complement each other in a multitude of ways, from their intelligent use of entrances and exits, to their characters: sweetly nuanced and brought to life by the actors who double up roles onstage. In Still Life, two strangers meet in a station cafe and conduct an affair which is doomed from the start, whilst in Red Peppers, a cabaret husband and wife team ensure that they’ll never play the town again. 

Still Life is a beautiful collection of moments, taking place in the same space over a year in the life of a couple, who shut out the rest of the world whilst they are together but are unable to forget their real lives. Conducting this affair are Alec and Laura, (played beautifully by the stoic Freddie Capper and the wonderfully emotional Georgina Strawson). They move through their lives with the blossoming relationships around them, and, while their meetings are doomed, one cannot help but revel in the relief that the comedic interludes bring – not all relationships will break, and even the hardest of hearts will fall.

James Turner’s set is beautiful, finely settled in the era of Brief Encounter – an adaptation of Still Life – with flawless attention to detail. The scent of cigarettes hangs in the air, a little sweet but settling the audience into the mind of the era, giving us the expectation of a mystery to be revealed. Which it was, piece by piece, as we watched this affair move from table to table, month to month, almost always conducted in time for the 5:43 train away from the station.

At the interval, however, one feels a simple sort of loss and emptiness – though their affair was short, it was genuine – and Coward has a way with words, willing you to take on the emotions of each character, and perhaps reflect on where you, as an audience member, are lacking in that corner of your life.

In direct contrast, however, Red Peppers opens hilariously, with a rough and ready cabaret act that does not disappoint. Simon Manyonda and Laura Hanna are excellent as George and Lily Pepper, a married couple performing in a Vaudeville theatre. Hanna and Manyonda do not shy away from this, and in their musical numbers are unafraid to play up to the physical comedy obscenely, their movements brilliant and thunderous, deserving of applause throughout. Backstage, however, amidst the mass of costumes, dinners and make-up remover, their carefully constructed personas fall apart, and their slanging matches, though filled with wordplay and vicious insults, are the symbol of a relationship which is fragile and precarious. They come together again, however, Manyonda playing a wonderfully protective husband to Hanna’s shrill, unthinking wife, whose lack of filter gets both of them into trouble. Their strong partnership here is wonderful, as is their small comeuppance at the end, orchestrated by the brilliant Ed Howells, who plays two different forms of conductor in each play.

Both plays have a fantastically strong supporting cast, notably with Matt Cavendish providing sweet comic relief as the station vendor and theatre porter, Howells as the various conductors and Suzan Sylvester as the acerbic but kind-hearted cafe owner and ballad singer in each piece respectively. Each play works as a stand-alone piece, but in combination, they provide the right amount of lightheartedness, cruelty, drama, romance and comedy that one would come to expect from Coward’s writing, and though short, both pieces are dreadfully good.

Still Life and Red Peppers are playing at The Old Red Lion Theatre until 24 August 2013. For more information and tickets, see the Old Red Lion Theatre website. Photo by Nicolai Kornum.