The Waiting Line - Smiths Restaurant - 17/06/09 by Julia Taylor

Last night, I enjoyed a new and pleasurable experience at Smiths Restaurant in Eccles. After a delicious meal (spare ribs, roast Pollock and mixed sorbet) I watched Jelly Belly Theatre’s presentation of a new play buy Anna Baatz, “The Waiting Line”.

The play featured an encounter by two disparate (and also desperate) strangers on a commuter line to Leeds on the same day each week.

Frankly, I don’t think I would have been as chatty as Lisa Brookes’ Paige was with Lawrence Ghorra’s Prog. I would probably have moved to another carriage for he is distinctly odd. He is an ex-soldier turned religious nut who lives at Hollingworth House, a home for people like him.

He is very pushy and keeps forcing Paige to put down her ipod and speak to him, something she is reluctant to do at first. After three or four encounters, the barrier between them breaks down and Paige confesses her own shortcomings. The surprise comes at the end when we suspect Paige’s life leads to the death of Prog. But it is only a suspicion. The play ends with a question mark.

The two actors relate to one another well. Lawrence is appropriately over the top whilst Lisa’ character is more real. Anna has ensured that there is an interesting opening and closing with plenty going on in between in her well-written play.

The company had gone to much trouble to obtain genuine old bus seats. Occasionally I found myself thinking they were on the No. 22 bus rather than a train. I was brought back to thinking rail when the train master’s voice reeled off the stopping places.

Perhaps if she had appeared to collect tickets we might have had a little relief from the intensity of the growing relationship of the main characters. After all, trains are busy noisy places and the best conversations get interrupted.

Smith’s theatre dinners are becoming more and more popular. Just ring them on 788 7343 for a list of future events.