Workington Playgoers present Alan Bennett’s Office Suite at the town’s Theatre Royal from Wednesday June 7 to Saturday June 10.
Office Suite consists of two one-act plays concerning the ups and downs of office life.
They demonstrate the mastery of Bennet’s writing and his meticulous observation and understanding of people – especially women.
His understated wit underlines the pathos of the human condition.
Act One – Green Forms
This was first performed on television in December 1978 with a mega cast of Patricia Routledge, Prunella Scales and Peter Postlethwaite.
Doreen and Doris work together in the cluttered office of a large organisation in the north of England.
They muddle along doing what they have to do to appear busy. In this pre computer age they cheerfully deal with all the coloured forms that come their way sending them off to the appropriate departments. Their world is safe. They know the procedures and each other very well but then things start to change.
There are rumours of redundancies and someone seems to be requisitioning items that relate to deficiencies in their own office. It appears that someone is planning to move in. Who is it and what does it mean?
Doris is fairly complacent. She has worked there longer than Doreen and is a scale 4 whereas Doreen is only a scale 3.
However are either of them safe from the implementation of new ways of working? Will they be able to remain friends in the face of competition for jobs or is their comfortable idyll coming to an end?
The cast are Stewart Grant (Mr Lomax), Ruth Hellen (Doris), Brian Young (Boswell) and Joan Hetherington (Doreen).
Act Two – A Visit From Miss Prothero
This was first transmitted by the BBC in 1978 starring Patricia Routledge as Miss Prothero and Hugh Lloyd as Dodsworth.
Mr Dodsworth has recently retired from Warburtons after working there for 30 years.
He is perfectly content living in the somewhat dated but comfortable home he made with his late wife.
He has his budgie Millie for company, his daughter and the grandchildren pop in frequently and he is going to classes to learn new skills like pottery and cookery.
He looks back on his working life with no regrets and a certain amount of pride. He worked hard to rationalise Warbuton’s working practices and knows that when he retired he had put in place efficient systems to allow the firm to prosper.
His peace is shattered when his former secretary Miss Dodsworth pays him an unexpected and somewhat unwelcome visit. She says she is sure he must be lonely.
The cast are Stephanie Daly-Parks (Miss Prothero) and Andy Greenwood (Mr Dodsworth)
