Forty Years On, theatre review: Spirited approach to an old-school choice

New artistic director Daniel Evans, arriving at Chichester Festival Theatre after seven successful years in Sheffield, begins his tenure with a potentially crowd-pleasing if somewhat unadventurous choice.

Alan Bennett’s first play, dating from 1968, is a parody of sentimental celebrations of British history — a vision of the nation’s defective memory that’s nevertheless suffused with nostalgia. Bennett has described it as ‘an elaborate life-support system for the preservation of bad jokes’, and while parts of it remain poignant and amusing, it risks feeling like an extended series of clever sketches.

The headmaster of Albion House is about to retire. This rundown boarding school is a symbol of Britain in a time of turbulent change, and his final speech day is an opportunity for a farewell party that takes the country's temperature. The resulting revue is packed with quotations and innuendo, and the headmaster can't fail to discern what he calls 'an element of mockery' (though it's less like an element than a whole periodic table).

Richard Wilson occupies this pivotal role, and his headmaster is an authority figure who’s both self-important and sympathetic. But for now the performance is tentative, with Wilson's imperfect command of the lines unbalancing the production.

Otherwise it’s a mixture of the eccentric, the spirited and the elaborately whimsical. Evans injects a few topical notes and has an impressive sense of scale, embracing the talents of a 52-strong ‘community ensemble’ and some bright youngsters who play the more prominent pupils.

The staff are affectionately portrayed, with Alan Cox’s Franklin often at the heart of activity, marshalling what the headmaster calls an ‘impudent charade’. Meanwhile as newish teacher Tempest, Danny Lee Wynter has a chameleon’s adaptability and is the comic highlight — his many guises including what appears to be a startling impersonation of Downton Abbey’s Violet Crawley.

Until May 20, Chichester Festival Theatre; cft.org.uk