Review: Elgar and Alice at the Abbey Theatre in St Albans

And while, as director Tim Hoyle is at pains to point out, Elgar and Alice by Peter Sutton is a drama and not a biography, it gives a fascinating insight into relationships in society at the time.

For Elgar and his long-suffering wife Alice were probably very typical of the period. He is portrayed as a great composer but a flawed human being and she as a talented woman in her own right who never had the opportunities he had.

Elgar and Alice at the Abbey Theatre (Image: Abbey Theatre)

Written to mark the 150th anniversary of Elgar’s birth, it focuses on the period leading up to the death of Alice.

So we meet Alice reclining on a day bed while her husband flirts with their visitor Lady Alice Stuart, known to him as Windflower.

It is very hard to warm to Elgar in the first act of the play as Lady Alice plays up to him and his wife watches on most of the time.

But the second act is a revelation as the dying Alice confronts her husband about his ‘muses’ and his failure to take her talent as a poet seriously.

Jacqui Golding gives a mesmerising performance as Alice, particularly in Act Two, as she challenges her husband over their life together.

And Dan Clucas as Elgar, the composer of such great works as the Enigma Variations and The Dream of Gerontius, is a perfect match for her.

As he defends himself from her ire – including telling her that the words in her poems are no more than bare statements compared with what music has to offer - it is hard to feel any sympathy for him.

But as she slips away, it becomes clear that this under-appreciated woman really is the love of his life.

Of course no-one really knows what happened in the Elgar marriage but in the two leading roles, Dan Clucas and Jacqui Golding are excellent.

The intimacy of the Abbey Theatre Studio, kitted out as ever in just the right period pieces, is a great help. It really does feel that you are watching on in their Hampstead home which Elgar hated.

Completing the cast are Suzanne Brower as the rather treacherous Lady Alice, allegedly great friends with her namesake while quite possibly being the mistress of her husband, and Deborah Cole as the kindly nurse cum housemaid Sarah Allen.

Edgar and Alice, directed with great sensitivity by Tim Hoyle, runs until Saturday (27) and tickets can be obtained from the box office on 01727 857861 or go to www.abbeytheatre.org.uk.