A Man of no Importance Review

A Man of no Importance

Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury

I admired this rarely performed musical, despite its flaws. The story follows Alfie Byrne (Mark Meadows) a bus driver and Oscar Wilde admirer, who can't help but read his poems to his passengers. He is also director of an amateur theatre troupe in Dublin. Tired of putting on The Importance of Being Earnest every year, Alfie decides to take a risk and put on Oscar Wilde's controversial play, Salome. During, the production process he meets a newcomer to Dublin, Adele (Laura Pitt-Pulford), who he decides is perfect for the role of Salome. The story also shows how he has feelings for his fellow bus driver, Robbie (Fra Free), and that he has problems dealing with his sexuality

An article in the programme discusses plays and musicals that look at the production process of a play-within-a-play, the conflicts amongst crew members, and the significance of theatre. It claims that this musical is one of them. To be frank the theatre aspect that is meant to be the anchor of the musical does not play a significant role. A lot of the plays and musicals mentioned in the article focus on the production process and multiple stories of cast members. This musical focuses primarily on Alfie. The production process of Salome (despite its outcome) and its cast members are barely looked at, losing the significance of theatre. If it was a play about Alfie, his sexual problems, and Oscar Wilde's poems, then I might have enjoyed it more.

Playing Alfie Byrne is Mark Meadows; passionate for Oscar Wilde, Meadows shows an eccentric side to the character as he reads his idol's poetry on the bus. He shows a reserved man struggling to choose between conforming to what is expected of him or discovering his own feelings. Alfie’s younger sister, Lily, is played by Angela Bain. She is pragmatic and more down to earth than Alfie. For her own reasons she puts her own pressure on Alfie to conform. Robert Maskell as Carney the butcher is pious and upstanding, and he represents the dissenting views of putting on Salome. Laura Pitt-Pulford plays Adele, the nervous newcomer. She shows the girl’s struggle to fit in with the rest of the cast, but like the play-within-a-play she is barely seen and is soon forgotten about.

Fra Free would have to be my favourite as Robbie. Adventurous, outgoing, but caring at the same time, he shows Alfie what he is missing out at one point by taking him around downtown Dublin. The song The Streets of Dublin brings to mind Once as he and the company brilliantly gives an energetic and rhythmic performance in a pub setting. It is such a shame that the musical does not focus on his character a bit more and he does disappear for a while during the second act. This lack of presence takes away the focus on Alfie's ongoing struggle with his homosexuality, and this takes a toll on my empathy with this storyline. 

As part of the musical the whole cast also appear as the orchestra. Since every cast member has an instrument at hand, the musical feels fluent as many a scene transition is taken up with music or a song. Set-wise, I am dissapointed with the Salisbury Playhouse for simply recycling the exact same community hall from Stepping Out. That said the cast nicely recreated a number of scenes, such as a bus, using all sorts of objects.

Overall it was lovely to see A Man of No Importance, but I have no need to see it again. At times it does not know what it wants to be, as it goes back and forth between the values of theatre and homosexuality. But the cast was strong and the production had some neat ideas, which makes it worth a Low Bargain.