Though H.E Bates published a series of five Larkin stories in 1958 they only really became well-known after his death when they were made into a much-loved TV series.
In H.E Bates’ three-volume autobiography, there’s a vivid description of how he came to be inspired to create the Larkin family.
“One early summer evening Madge and I were driving through a Kentish village when we suddenly had reason to stop and make a few purchases at the village shop. As I sat waiting for her in the car, I noticed outside the shop a ramshackle lorry that had been recently painted electric blue. Two or three minutes later there came out of the shop in high spirits, a remarkable family: father, a perky sprightly character with dark sideburns, ma, a youngish, handsome woman of enormous girth, wearing a bright salmon jumper and shaking with laughter like a jelly and six children, the eldest of them a beautiful dark-haired girl of 20 or so. All were sucking at colossal multicoloured ice creams and at the same time crunching potato crisps.”
It’s this clear and lively description which inspires this Little Theatre production of The Darling Buds of May directed by Mary Jones.
The play follows the lives of the Larkin family, focussing on the arrival of Cedric “Charley” Charlton a young and earnest tax inspector who visits the family to investigate their financial affairs. The story revolves around the blossoming romance between Charley and Mariette Larkin the eldest daughter. The Larkins’ unconventional lifestyle, full of love, laughter and a disregard for societal conventions provides a sharp contrast to Charley’s initial rigidity.
Andy Longley-Brown as Pop Larkin is the wheeling-dealing bewhiskered patriarch of the family with a fondness for inventing cocktails, flirting and finding things “perfick”. Zara Cain plays the welcoming Ma Larkin who indulges his behaviour and oversees her lively brood.
The young actors playing the Larkin Children add to the chaotic and loving atmosphere of the household.
Laura Heybrock plays Mariette as confident and self-assured. At the start of the play Mariette thinks she’s pregnant but is uncertain about who the father is. Luckily for her and Charley, this proves to be a false alarm.
Harry Wheeler does a good job of portraying Charley’s transformation from uptight and nervous tax inspector to a confident integral member of the Larkin family. He embodies the contrast between an urban structured existence and a rural free-spirited lifestyle.
There are a number of other characters who add to the sense of chaos and farce. The prim Miss Pilchester (Elizabeth Spendlove) is infatuated with Pop Larkin and finds everything “ghastly”. The arrival of Charley’s Tax Inspector boss (Luke Evered) prompts several comic moments with Charley hiding under the table and behind a tree to avoid being forced back to the office.
The Darling Buds of May is very much a 1950s period piece, albeit a charming one capturing the essence of rural life with its simple pleasures. The underlying message is that we should all learn, as Charley does, to appreciate the simple pleasures along with the value of family and love.
