The Wind and the Rain at Finborough Theatre

The Wind and the Rain was another example of Finborough resurrecting an almost forgotten old play, this time from 1933. It had a long run then and that was enough to persuade me to see it.

I will always be willing to pay £20 for an interesting sounding play at a theatre I love.

I will be lazy and let Finborough describe the play:

"Charles Tritton, an eighteen-year-old medical student about to begin his studies, arrives at Mrs McFie’s boarding house.

"Before him lie five years’ of swotting for exams and sweating over dissections, alongside his fellow residents – eternal student Gilbert Raymond who would rather be drinking and chasing girls than passing his exams; the studious sportsman and frightful bore, John Williams; and the sage older postgraduate student, Frenchman Dr Paul Duhamel."

And that was about it, four young gentlemen and their landlady just being young gentlemen and talking to each other about it.

While that is true it also considerably understates the play.

In a situation based directly on the experiences of the playwright, Merton Hodge, training at Edinburgh Medical School, the characters interacted beautifully as their individual stories evolved.

There was a love story in there too and while that helped edge the stories toward happy endings I was actually uncomfortable with it. I recognise it only reflected the truth of those time but the expectation that the man would led the life he wanted and the woman would fall in line, even if her home life was half a world away. 

Of course one of the points of seeing period plays is to be exposed to the thinking of that time and sometimes that is going to be uncomfortable, and this was a lot less uncomfortable than seeing David Tennant play a Nazi (in Good).

The simple and charming set did its work well in adding to the period delight. I also liked the simplicity of the props used, which mostly seemed to consist of bottles of beer being brought to the table!

The cast were good too and each character was distinctive and believable.

All of the pieces of the play came together nicely, as Finborough has a lovely habit of doing, making The Wind and the Rain another satisfying evening there.