Quartermaine’s Terms
★★★★☆ Considered
Church Hill Theatre: Wed 19 – Sat 22 Mar 2025
Review by Hugh Simpson
Quartermaine’s Terms, from Edinburgh People’s Theatre at the Church Hill, is a thoughtful, almost stately tragicomedy that is here staged with considerable attention to detail.
Simon Gray’s 1981 play is set in a small school for teaching English as a foreign language in 1960s Cambridge. St John Quartermaine is a permanent fixture in the staff room, as he has no life outside the school; his various colleagues all have their own regrets, unfulfilled aspirations and family problems.
Ade Smith and Pat Johnson in EPT’s Quartermaine’s Terms. Pic Graham Bell.
The play’s depiction of disappointment and lost love seems almost wilfully reminiscent of Chekhov, something that the frequent references to that writer do nothing to contradict. In truth, it’s not nearly that good (and certainly too long).
Nevertheless the play accurately represents the foibles and repressions of a certain type; the teachers’ constant stereotyping of the various nationalities they teach only points up that they are stereotypes themselves, of a buttoned-up English would-be intellectual.
Andy Moseley’s direction is particularly good at showing the various characters’ inner lives and relationships.
bemusement
Ade Smith gives the distracted, lonely Quartermaine a suitable combination of outward affability and inward desperation. The character’s bemusement at his increasing forgetfulness, and the way that others sympathise without ever actually addressing his problems, are very well done.
James Cumming is convincing as the would-be novelist Mark, while David Roach gives new staff member Derek a bumbling sympathy.
Ade Smith, James Cumming and Ellen McFadzen in EPT’s Quartermaine’s Terms. Pic Graham Bell
Senior tutor Henry is all seeming bonhomie, but with a fatal self-absorption that conceals a tragic family life. Larry Weil puts all of this across well; the moment when he is forced into comforting long-term admirer Melanie (Shona Cook), before escaping with relief to answer a telephone, epitomises the play’s desperately sad comedy.
Cook shows the sorrow of her character, who is forced to look after a mother who apparently hates her, with emotional impact. Similarly, Ellen McFadzen is very good indeed as Anita, whose husband is a serial cheat.
Changing the college co-principal from Eddie to Edie loses some aspects of the character but gains immeasurably in others. Pat Johnson gives the character, who is well-meaning but seemingly at a remove from reality, genuine pathos.
throwback
Despite being from the 1980s, the play is in many ways a throwback to the drawing-room set ‘well-made play’ from much earlier, and benefits from a realistic production. Richard Spiers’ solid set, well-chosen props and cleverly done scene changes (especially the changing of the clock) help add to the effect.
Shona Cook, David Roach, Larry Weil and Ade Smith in EPT’s Quartermaine’s Terms. Pic Graham Bell
The extreme care in the direction – every move and gesture thought through – does have the effect of making an already slow play even slower. This means that the tragedy is foregrounded, and the comedy tends to be squeezed out; as a result some of the characters who might appear touching come over instead as rather annoying.
What it loses in laughs, however, the production gains in believability. Several of the play’s most important characters are mentioned but never seen. This is characteristic of a play that is like a classical tragedy in that most of the important action happens elsewhere, in between scenes. This can be very difficult to realise on stage, but here the effect is poignantly realistic.
Running time 2 hours 30 minutes including one interval
Church Hill Theatre, 30 Morningside Rd, EH10 4DR
Wednesday 19 – Saturday 22 March 2025
Wed-Fri: 7.30pm; Sat: 2.30pm only.
Tickets: Book here.
Website: https://ept.org.uk
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Larry Weil (seated), David Roach (standing), Shona Cook, Pat Johnson, Ade Smith, Ellen McFadzen (seated) and James Cumming in EPT’s Quartermaine’s Terms. Pic Graham Bell.
ENDS
Quartermaine’s Terms, Church Hill Theatre, Review, Hugh Simpson, Edinburgh People’s Theatre, Simon Gray, Andy Moseley, Ade Smith, James Cumming, David Roach, Larry Weil, Shona Cook, Ellen McFadzen, Pat Johnson, Richard Spiers,
Larry Weil (Windscape), David Roach (Meadle), Shona Cook (Melanie) Pat Johnson (Edie), Ade Smith (Quartermaine), Ellen McFadzen (Anita) and James Cumming (Sackling).
