The Thunderbolt, Orange Tree Theatre

The Orange Tree’s new season has got off to a flyer with its revival of Arthur Wing Pinero’s The Thunderbolt. Sam Walters’ brilliantly acted production is an example of the in-the-round theatre doing what it does best in unearthing a long-forgotten gem and breathing fresh life into it.

The play, first performed in 1908, tells the story of a small town Midlands family, the Mortimores, gathering to stake their claim for their late brother’s considerable fortune.

No will has been left and the four siblings and their assorted spouses anticipate a windfall, although matters are complicated by the arrival of their brother’s daughter, Helen.

The play is a satirical attack on middle class greed and social climbing and this production allows it to strike its targets successfully. As the Mortimore pack become more and more feverish in pursuit of their brother’s cash, the assorted husbands and wives take it in turn to bring their nastiness to the fore and what a ghastly bunch they prove to be.

Julie Teal does a great job as the haughty sister-in-law who sees “two sides to every question” and David Whitworth’s newspaper proprietor, Stephen Mortimore, is played with pleasing pomposity.

The performances of Stuart Fox as the pained youngest brother, Tad, and Natalie Ogle as his shy wife Phyllis, provide a necessary contrast to this hideous clan, but when Pinero engineers a clever plot twist just before the interval the outsiders suddenly find themseves at the centre of the action and our sympathies for them are put to the test.

This three-hour play would undoubtedly benefit from some judicious cutting and the love story between Grainne Keenan’s Helen and Reverend Trist (James Joyce) is an unnecessary and under-developed sub-plot, but, these quibbles aside, The Thunderbolt is a production to savour.

Will Gore

The Thunderbolt runs until October 2. Visit orangetreetheatre.co.uk