Quartermaine’s Terms – Churchill Theatre, Edinburgh

Presented by Edinburgh People’s Theatre, Quatermaine’s Terms gives a fly-on-the-wall view of a 1960s staffroom within an international school in Cambridge.  Spanning over two years, we see the personal lives and relationships of the characters change and adapt, communicated to us by way of staff room gossip.  We get a picture of love, death, and loneliness and the characters incessant need to keep it all to themselves – an all too real representation of the stiff upper lip British attitude which eventually leads to the breakdown of each character.  The exception to this cycle of change is the Quartermaine himself.  Having been with the school since it first opened, the Quartermaine, who seems almost glued to his staff room armchair, has begun to mentally deteriorate leaving the school struggling to justify keeping him on as a teacher. The actor playing the Quartermaine gave a poignant performance

Interspersed throughout the show, we see a recurring dream sequence as the Quartermaine dozes off in his armchair.  I thought this element of the show was somewhat misguided in a way – I couldn’t quite grasp what its purpose was, and it seemed almost lacklustre – two cleaners walked in, polished a little, then walked out.  I felt it was intended to be symbolic but ended up leaving me with a lack of clarity as to what that symbolism was.  Perhaps if the direction of the dreams was bolder and more surreal the desired effect would have been achieved.  However, an amusing highlight of these dream sequences was the mishaps of one of the cleaners.  Every time she removed the clock from the wall to dust it, she had an awfully hard time trying to hook it back on its nail.  I’m unsure as to whether this was scripted or not but regardless it made me laugh. 

Overall, the show featured a charming cast of well thought out characters, each with their own set of humorous quirks and misgivings. Every cast member successfully captured the bumbling coyness of the classic Englishman stereotype, while simultaneously stirring sympathy for the characters during their hardships.

The let-down of this production was unfortunately its failure to utilise the elements of technical theatre to their fullest.  The lighting and sound design was very minimalistic, resulting in a feeling of stagnancy.  In a play such as this, with a fairly thin plot, I think these technical elements could have been considered further in order to counteract the lack of action.  I do appreciate it is a sort of kitchen-sink drama style play, so the minimalism is to be expected, but with a long runtime of over two hours, I found myself unengaged. 

While I think the production could be improved in certain areas, it was still enjoyable.  The choice of play suited the actors well, who breathed life into the characters, leaving us charmed and moved by this simple display of human nature.

Quartermaine’s terms will be performing at the Churchill Theatre in Morningside until the 22nd of March.

Reviewer: Jessie Martin

Reviewed: 21st March 2025

North West End UK Rating: