Play On!
Talk about ending on a high! The Harborough Theatre pulled off a corker with Play On! last week. It was a job keeping up with the pace and humour of this wonderful script by Rick Abbot, superbly directed by Neil Lovegrove. The tight cast of ten showed dedicated team work and clearly enjoyed the production as much as the audience. This play within a play gives an inside view of a theatre group in rehearsal and, eventually, in performance of a murder mystery, taking in the prima donna-style antics of some, over-acting of others and the frustration of everyone from an interfering playwright. Chaos reigns from the outset.
I loved the exaggerated, melodramatic poses and deliveries of Dan Hands and Denis Murphy as Billy Carewe and Saul Watson. Similarily executed were the roles of Henry and Polly Benish played by the talented Tim Hands and Lizzie Murphy. Timing is everything in a comedy and this quartet in particular had it to a tee. Sophie Marlowe was outstanding as the nubile Violet Imbry and Dave Marten provided a perfect and complete contrast as Gerry Dunbar, the group’s wearied director. Emma Backett as young Smitty got progressively funnier. The equally hilarious ‘backstage’ team comprised of Kate Cary as stage manager Aggie and Rebecca Matthews as set builder Louise balanced the excesses of the ‘actors’. Barbara Lloyd lapped up the part of playwright Phyllis, adding chaos with every entrance. Even the ingenious set designed by Tritan Knowles and his team provided hilarity with a set change performance!
A wonderful end to a great season. (Edited from a review by Gordon Birch for the Harborough Mail.)
Photography by John Harrison
Bothered and Bewildered
Bothered and Bewildered by Gail Young deals with the subject of dementia through the widowed Irene who according to her daughters, started to go ‘wappy’ after her husband’s death. Irene’s condition develops into Alzheimer’s and the daughters struggle to cope. The pace of this moving drama with some comic moments develops slowly mirroring the difficulties of helping a family member with this condition. There were some nice characterisations. Lin Hinningan-Leach got to grips with the most difficult role of Irene, and Teresa Quigley and Emma Horspool portrayed good contrasting personalities of the daughter’s Beth and Louise. As Irene’s condition worsens, she is encouraged to write a Memory Book, inspired by her favourite author, Barbara Cartland. Nicci Harvey played the weirdest role of Cartland, who only appears in Irene’s mind. Looking authentically like a cross between the Sugar Plum Fairy and a pantomime dame, she wafted in and out, encouraging Irene to reveal her innermost thoughts, including a wartime romance and a baby given up for adoption. The most moving scene by far was between Irene and her granddaughter Shelley, beautifully played by Yasmin Luxford. Dan Creedon was Irene’s illegitimate son, Simon Palmer was the examining doctor and Georgina Walkington the community support officer.
Edited from a review by Gordon Birch in the Harborough Mail
Photography by Andrew Wallace
Deathtrap
Review by Gordon Birch for the Harborough Mail
A comedy thriller which blurred the lines between reality and performance kept Harborough Theatre audiences on their toes last week. Deathtrap, by Ira Levin, had more twists and turns than a helter skelter as the five-strong cast presented the story of faded playwright Sidney Bruhl, who sees a way of making a theatre comeback by stealing a promising script from a former student. No-one in this plot was safe, as the story developed from play to life – or death – and back again.
Set in Connecticut, the required American accents were impressively consistent. Paul Barrass was commanding and believable as Bruhl and Pam Cousins was thoroughly immersed and animated as the hapless wife, who sadly came to a sticky end fairly early on. Ben Lewis excelled in the plum part of theatre student Clifford Anderson, scary and fascinating in equal measure.
There is a definite gay vibe between Sidney and Clifford, which may have been controversial when the play was written in 1978. But by today’s standards the physical interaction between them seemed somewhat chaste.
Wendy Lomas brought wonderful comedy to the piece as visiting Dutch psychic Helga den Dorp, who seemed to know everythingh before it happened – even her daughter’s pregnancy. Denis Murphy as solicitor Porter Milgram proved his talent yet again for lighting up a stage on first entry – totally convincing, as was the whole cast and play.
Sarah Clarke gave expert direction to the piece and the charming set was designed by Merv. Skinner and Nick Lewis.
Photography by Peter Crowe
Entertaining Angels
Edited from a review by Gordon Birch in the Harborough Mail.
Sometimes it’s nice to go to the theatre, sit back and be entertained without applying too much brainpower. And that’s how I felt when the curtain went up. It was an easy watch with all the essentials: humour, sensitivity, intrigue and even a bit of historical sex.
Expertly directed by Jan Wilson, the cast of five unfolded the plot set around Grace, a recently widowed vicar’s wife and her family, including regular appearances of the deceased.
Liz Clarke gave a super-sharp delivery as Grace, whose cynicism about the Church and God was highly amusing! Much of the play’s intrigue was in the safe hands of Nicky Mawer as Ruth, her hippyish, missionary sister, who had shared with the late vicar more than a faith in the Almighty, resulting in a son! Grace’s daughter Sarah, played realistically by Lara Colotto, tried to bring calm, but declared the situation as ‘Songs of Praise on acid’! – just one of the production’s many great lines. As Bardolph the late vicar, visible only to his wife, Tony Price was perfection – dithery, other-worldly, vague and charming. Julia Mills drew empathy as Jo, the prospective new vicar, possibly the play’s ‘straightest’ role.
Forgiveness was at the centre of this play, as each character unburdened themselves which sounds heavy-going. But thanks to Richard Everett’s script, it was an amusing, satisfying piece.
Photography by John Harrison
An Ideal Husband, by Oscar Wilde
Review by Gordon Birch for the Harborough Mail.
Very few playwrights’ work has relevance or appeal 130 years after being written. Oscar Wilde is an exception. Last week Harborough Theatre proved it with a remarkable performance of An Ideal Husband. Director Chris Raymakers ensured a superb, swift delivery of a script littered with lines to die for.
The play tells of a ‘cash for questions’ style political scandal. See what I mean about relevance? At the centre of the action is the eponymous Sir Robert Chiltern. Dipesh Lakhani gave a sturdy performance as the man struggling to preserve his previously unblemished reputation. Yasmin Luxford was perfect as his unerringly supportive wife, Lady Gertrude.
Putting the cat among the pigeons was mischievous Mrs Cheveley, played in an efficient, though rather detached, way by Eleanor Marriott.
When the proverbial hits the fan (not Lady Windermere’s) the Chilterns turn to confidante, Lord Goring. Cormac Murphy was nothing short of extraordinary as his louche lordship. Fast, funny and faultless. Celeste Walton was fresh and lively as Mabel Chiltern, who sins his heart. Denis Murphy was hilarious as Goring’s exasperated and terribly British father, the Earl of Caversham.
Sue Waller, Lizzie Murphy and Nicci Harvey were delightful as society gossips, Countess of Basildon, Mrs Marchmont and Lady Markby respectively. Barry Watson, Bruk Vidler, Daniel Shorley, Ben Lewis and Edward Toone completed this excellent cast.
The modern style set, though ingeniously designed by Tristan Knowles, seemed rather incongruous alongside the sumptuous period costumes. Perhaps it was deliberate – but it was lost on me.
Photography by John Harrison
Be My Baby, by Amanda Whittington
For many of us baby boomers, the 1960’s was a special time: fab music, fab clothes and jobs galore. But if you were pregnant and unmarried it was a different story. Be My Baby was a stark reminder of the stigma, lack of compassion and downright cruelty towards girls in that situation. The audiences’ sympathy was palpable as they hung on every word of the six-strong female cast, directed by Paul Beasley.
Set in a Christian-based home for unmarried mums, the play focused on the dilemmas of four pregnant and petrified women.. My heart broke for posh-girl Mary, played strongly and sensitively by Kate Cary, as she held her daughter, only to have her taken away for adoption. Sophie Marlowe exuded warmth as the rather more worldly Queenie. Ruth Fowler was delightful as the naïve Dolores and Rachael Humphrey as Norma, drew so much sympathy – pregnant and dumped by a married man.
Nicci Harvey impressed as the no-nonsense Matron, occasionally showing that she has a heart, but the system didn’t extend to offering the girls emotional support. Catherine Couchman Reynolds was a wonderful contrast to everyone as Mary’s rather ‘proper’ mother, who couldn’t bear the ‘shame’ of her daughter’s condition. Such was life in the so-called Swinging Sixties.
Particular praise for this powerful production must go to the designers of the ingenious revolving stage and atmospheric sets, completed by a great Sixties soundtrack.
Edited from Gordon Birch’s review in the Harborough Mail
Photography by Andrew Wallace
The God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza
Two children have a scrap and one is injured. Their parents meet up to sort out the aftermath. That is the crux of God of Carnage, staged at Harborough Theatre the last week of September. It sounds straightforward but the adults’ meeting turns into a worse scenario than their children’s.
It is set in the home of awfully nice Michel and Veronique Valon amidst their precious art books and carefully arranged tulips. Equally ‘civilised’ are their guest Alain and Annette Reilles. But it’s not long before the bourgeois veneer starts to wear thin.
The four-strong cast romped along at a pace, which never slowed, using every word to maximum effect, and each actor impressively remained in character throughout.
Caitlin Mottram was a joy to behold as the arty Veronique with facial expressions extraordinaire. Mark Aspland was perfect as long-suffering husband, Michel, who eventually lost his cool.
Alison Kennerdell and Tom Mackenzie excelled as Annette and Alain and all four exposed their true selves once Michel opened the rum bottle. The apparent civility of the gathering turned out to be a charade, as between them they threw up, swore, argued and virtually came to blows.
Amidst all this there was humour thanks to the excellent script, originally written in French, which lost nothing in translation. Paul Barras and Steve Wilson, the directors, certainly served up a corker to open the new season.
Edited from Gordon Birch’s review in the Harborough Mail
Photography by Peter Crowe