Word: portman
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...tables-of the awful aloneness, the need for others, of the down-at-heel and down-at-heart. But otherwise, there is a sharp contrast between two lives badly lived and two not lived at all, and a glorious opportunity, on the stars' part, for virtuoso acting. Actor Portman changes as brilliantly from an enraged but powerless bull to a neatly clipped but bleating, lamb as does Actress Leighton from a hard, sick, glossy siren to a sick, quivering dowd. And, as staged by Peter Glenville, both productions are consistently adroit theater, full of gaudy character acting and authoritative...
...appeal. The author of The Winslow Boy and 0 Mistress Mine has written two short plays with a shared background -a small, drab, English seaside hotel-and a recurrent roster of guests. In passing from one play to the other, only the two leading players, Margaret Leighton and Eric Portman-and they vary garishly-have new roles...
...desperately chic, a self-seeking but unsought woman who might have married millions but is reduced to modeling and drugs. He, a once tough, talented proletarian who might have been a Labor cabinet minister, is reduced to penny-alining and drink. In Table Number Seven Actor Portman is a natty fraud who has largely invented a dashing military past and a sexually timid duffer who has been pinched for molesting women in cinemas. Actress Leighton is an angular, sniffiy spinster who loves the fraud whom her dragon of a mother exposes and tries to expel...
Considering the shift from strong people in the first play to weak ones in the second, a great variety of acting skills are required of Mr. Portman and Miss Leighton. Although Miss Leighton's invalid daughter is a bit too invalid, in general they both prove themselves more than adequate to the task. Mr. Portman especially exudes a warmth and stage personality which is fascinating to behold. If their parts were less exciting, May Hallett and Phyllis Neilson-Terry, two boarders, were certainly competent...
...wordlessly in a rasping voice throughout both plays. If Miss Hillary proves distracting, nothing else detracts from the general success of the play. The sets, while not exciting, are satisfactory. The costumes, especially on Miss Leighton, are more than adequate. But the most striking contributions are those of Eric Portman and Terence Rattigan...