Florrie Daly

By Gerald Fitzpatrick Howkins - performed by Shorefields Drama Group
United Services Club, Dingle - 11th December 2003

Reviewed by Julian Bond

What a relief! And how refreshing! Not a luvvy or darling in sight. Set in a Liverpool still coming to terms with World War Two, the Florrie of the title is a war widow looking after her daughter. A soldier from her dead husband's unit turns up, and is viewed with suspicion from all sides...

This was real theatre that meant something to ordinary people, like the man I sat next to who told me he had "lived and breathed" what we had just watched. The sets were well designed, not over-bearing, allowing the audience to concentrate on the emotions portrayed by the characters. The cast was generally strong. What was perhaps lacking in experience was more than made up for with a spirit of honesty.

The presentation of class distinctions between the upwardly mobile landlord and his floozy, was brilliantly brought out in a pub fight scene, which was pure emotion and entirely believable. Also of interest was the post-war sense of loss the characters portrayed.

There were two important shortcomings, which are linked. Firstly, the final twist - the love declaration - was not sufficiently developed and therefore lacked the power it could have had. The second was that the play was too short at only an hour.

Shorefields Drama is a writers and actors collective in the Dingle, who have established a reputation for solid theatre relevant to their own community.
A production of Robert Tressell's The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is planned for 2004

Check out: www.geocities.com/shorefields_drama