The Charity That Began At Home

In keeping with the Orange Tree’s philosophy of reviving little-known plays and discovering forgotten theatre comes St John Hankin’s The Charity that Began at Home which runs here until 4 February.

The author was a peer of GB Shaw and Harley Granville Barker although he never achieved their eminence in his lifetime which he ended, committing suicide at the age of 39 in 1909.

The play opens with the charming Lady Denison (played charmingly indeed by Paula Stockbridge) who has opened her home for a posh country house party. We are quickly made aware that the one thing her guests have in common is that she feels sorry for all of them. Influencing her strange law of hospitality is the humanitarian preacher Basil Hylton who advocates kindness on this painful premise: true hospitality consists of entertaining people to whom no one else would offer house room. You cannot bear to spend five minutes in the company of these people, let alone an entire weekend stuck in the country with them.

Sadly for the characters within the play – but delightfully for us the audience watching – the flaws in Lady Denison’s plan become very quickly apparent. One guest, the Colonel is a crushing bore; another an unforgivingly sharp (and very funny) teacher; yet another an utter reprobate sacked from the army after some dastardly deed yet to be revealed.

And it is with this last character that Lady Denison’s daughter Margery (played by Olivia Morgan with devastating innocence that is comic indeed without being arch) falls in love, forcing her mum to re-consider her oh-so-considerate welcome.

I liked the reprobate best of all. His character, Hugh Verreker (played by Oliver Gomm) has some wonderful Wildean one-liners and his flippant, deft and upbeat wit provide the perfect counterpoint to the final scene in which he exhibits tenderness and thoughtfulness, qualities hitherto only dreamed of by his hopeful fiancée.

Good fun and a perfect play for the Christmas season of entertaining!

The Charity that Began at Home runs till 4 February at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond till 4 February Coming next at the Orange Tree is Torben Betts’ Muswell Hill from 8 February to 10 March; www.orangetreetheatre.co.uk 020 8940 3633

Sarah Hodgson is a regular at local theatres, and Editor-in-Chief at Time & Leisure Media Group.