A small family business - Stopgap theatre company

Date seen: 2nd August 2012

Venue: Isleworth public hall - Most unusual. You go up a flight of stairs & into a hall where you are seated at tables. A huge amount of home baking had been done so that you could buy a drink and cake.

Set: Quite elaborate and as it had to show several rooms often in use at the same time, it was very well done.

Costumes: Contemporary and unremarkable.

Plot: Jack McCraken arrives home to discover a surprise party, thrown by his wife Poppy, to celebrate him taking over the running of the family furniture business, Ayres and Graces, founded by his father-in-law, Ken. Jack makes an inspirational speech about the need for total honesty and incorruptibility in the business.

The party is disturbed when Benedict Hough, a private detective, arrives to announce he has caught Jack’s daughter Samantha shoplifting (to the value of £1.87). Hough threatens prosecution unless he gets a job with the family firm. Jack shows him the door. Scorned by his wife and other daughter Tina, for not standing up for Samantha, the women admit they have both committed minor indiscretions in the past.

The next day, Ken confides to Jack that the firm’s furniture is being copied by an Italian firm and believes there to be a spy in their firm. Jack contacts Hough and hires him; Hough drops the prosecution threat against Samantha and Jack becomes tainted by the very thing he despises. Hough discovers a firm called Rivetti is receiving the information. Jack realises the Rivettis are a contact of his brother, Cliff and goes to confront him. Unaware he is out, Jack discovers Cliff’s wife is having an affair with – it appears – most of the Rivetti brothers.

Performances: Too many to comment on each individually. All very accomplished though with Adrian Duce as Benedict stealing the show whilst teetering on  the edge of falling into caricature.

Summary: Another show that at 2'40 required some cuts, but the performances were of a high standard and the whole production had clearly had a huge amount of hard work put into it. My piece of victoria sponge was as light as a feather!

Intimate exchanges (A cricket match) - Eastbourne theatres

Date seen: 7th July 2012

Venue: Devonsire park, Eastbourne - A lovely few of the famous tennis stadium. This is a good-sized old theatre, full of character and tradition and with a nice feel to it. Feedbck from a speaker caused a constant distraction and the vestibule and toilets could all do with some modernization.

Set: Quite basic, but needs to be for the play. All very functional and did exactly what is was supposed to do.

Costumes: All fine. The quirky ones were quirky and the cricket gear was all spot on including helmet and grill.

Plot: Intimate Exchanges is a play written between 1982 and 1983, it consists of eight major stories all originating from a single opening scene. As the play progresses, the characters make choices each of which causes the story to go in one of two directions, leading to one of 16 possible endings.

Performances: Jenny Funnell - Excellent. Normality as Celia descends to the mad as a hatter Rowena and a sadly underused Sylvie. A really likeable performance.

Stephen Beckett: Had a harder task as two of his characters were most unlikeable. Miles however was endearing and I thought he gave a very solid and slightly under-appreciated performance.

Summary: Yes, this production was slightly too long and some cuts could easily have been made without damaging the feel of the piece - Always leave them wanting more! But it must have been huge fun to act and the whole change of character thing could make or break an actors reputation. I personally enjoyed both performances and look forward to seeing other productions to discover the different way this play can go.

Time of my life - Norwich players

Date seen: 2nd June 2012

Venue: Maddermarket theatre, Norwich. Down a small alley in the city centre. Perfectly ordinary downstairs. When you go to the gallery, there are armchairs, chez lounges and a huge dolls house as well as traditional theatre seating. Random but I loved it.

Set: Terrific right down to the plants and brickwork. I liked the set being on two levels. Very effective.

Costumes: All fine with Maureen getting more outrageous as the play went on.

Performances: Gerry (David Newham) - Nice manner. Steady rather than spectacular, I never really got the once powerful man.
Laura (Susan Seddon) - At last I've seen an actress nail this part. Brilliantly cold without appearing to be so if that makes sense. Superb performance.
Glyn (Max Rudd) - Very solid but I wish he hadn't spent so much time staring at the floor when he was speaking.
Stephanie (Angela Rowe) - A performance that grew on me. I loved her transformation from downtrodden to happy and successful.
Adam (Tom Girvin) - All actors I ever see play this role seem to look like this actor. Very nicely played though.
Maureen (Laura Landamore) - A very confident and likeable performance. Could even have afforded to be more outrageous as we go right back in time.
Waiter(s) (Trevor Burton) - Absolutely fabulous. Clearly enjoyed every moment and was a pleasure to watch.

Summary: A thoroughly professional performance all round and as competently played as any professional production of this play that I've seen. A quirky theatre rounded off an enjoyable afternoon.

Communicating doors - Knebworth Amateur theatre company

Date seen: 25th May 2012

Venue:  Knebworth village hall - A basic village hall with a small area serving refreshments

Set: Extremely good with a great balcony, well set bathroom and the most impressive Communicating door I've seen.

Costumes: All fine and in keeping

Plot: This cracking comedy-thriller begins with Reece Wells, a dying old businessman, attempting to ease his guilty conscience. He calls upon Poupée Désir , a leather-clad dominatrix, to witness the signing of a statement in which he confesses to being involved in the murders of his two former wives, Jessica and Ruella. But when his ruthless business partner, Julian who is also implicated by the statement, finds out, Poupée ('it's French for doll!' she insists) escapes her fate by fleeing through the communicating door and finds herself transported back to the same hotel suite twenty years earlier.

The plot sees the 'specialist sexual consultant' confronted with Reece's second wife, Ruella, on the eve of her murder. Can Poupée alter the course of events and save Ruella? And can Ruella go back a further twenty years and prevent Jessica, Reece's first wife, from being killed, too?

Set in three different time zones, 1990, 2010 and 2030, this clever and complex play has you on the edge of your seat throughout.

Performances:
Reece (Austin Willett) - Best as the final incarnation of Reece. As the infirm Reece, he was way too mobile and never appeared to be at death's door. His brief appearance as young Reece was hilarious for the wig alone.
Jessica (Zoe Baynes-Davidge) - A nice performance with her posh countess performance particularly endearing.
Ruella (Frances Farrugia) - A difficult part to play, this actress did a sterling job. Suitable amounts of bewilderment, excitement  and confusion were shown although she seemed to run out of steam towards the end of the play.
Julian (Martin Willoughby) - Okay but not nearly threatening or sinister. I neverbought him as a murderer.
Poopay (Lynsey Gammage) - Excellent! Really caught Poopay's vulnerability. It's so easy to play this character as a real hard-case, this performance drew out every dimension of a complicated character.
Harold (Stephen Magona) - I believe it was this actor's first appearance on stage. A nice effort but the inexperience showed. So many wonderful lines that Harold has were thrown away and were completely missed by the audience that didn't know the play.

Summary: The women outperformed the men, but the whole company had put in a huge amount of work. Technically excellent and the actors were really solid. A very enjoyable performance of a play that is close to my heart.

Confusions - Islington players

Date seen: 4th May 2012

Venue: Courtyard theatre - Up a flight of stairs and through a hall. Quite a nice little space in a quiet little London side-street.

Set: Extremely basic with a few flats with clothes draped over them and some simple items of furniture.

Plot: Five short comedic one-act plays

Performances: Too many to break down. This group is in its infancy and there was a mixture of the good, the average and the downright bizarre. Special mention to Pippa Brown who in the final piece gave a superbly genuine, heart-felt monologue. This actress has real promise.

Summary: Yo couldn't help but admire the sheer commitment and enthusiasm that this company showed. It was a real joy to see a fairly young audience.  A couple of the short plays just didn't work at all and a few of the performances were laughable for the wrong reasons. But I found myself routing for each and every one of the actorsand thoroughly enjoyed my evening. I hope to  see the Islington players grow from strength to strength.

Neighbourhood watch - Tricycle theatre

Date seen: 27 April 2012

Venue: Tricycle theatre. Lovely cafe area which is communal to the building. I didn't particularly like the auitorium itself. Very cramped and had scaffolding poles as part of its structure which kind of got in the way at times.

Set: Extremely basic with just seating and a fireplace. Although easy to tour with, it was too basic for me.

Costumes: Amy's costumes verged on the indecent, the security style jumpers were amusing, all the other costumes were fine.

Plot: The plot revolves around a Neighbourhood Watch group. A brother and sister move into an estate of private houses, are instilled with irrational fear about the council estate at the bottom of the garden, and set up a neighbourhood watch group. They only attract a committee of six, but it grows and develops into a gated community, complete with a Punishment Committee, public stocks and a private army of thugs (dad and two sons) who they can’t control.

Performances:  Dorothy (Eileen Battye) - Purely seemed to be there for comedy, nicely played though.
Rod (Terence Booth) - Very amusing early in the play, the part seemed to fade somewhat sadly.

Luther (Phil Cheadle) - Typical bad boy. A little cliched but still a strong portrayal.

Martin (Mathew Cottle) - Nicely played, but never came across as a home-wrecker (Which in reality he was), and I'm not sure I believed his ability to lead such a group.

Gareth (Richard Derrington) - Played as a stereotypical welshman. Funny  on occassion but the whole character was a little unoriginal.

Amy (Frances Grey)  - A real siren with legs that went on higher than I can see. Very sexy.

Magda (Amy Loughton) - An intelligent, vunerable and likeable performance.

Hilda (Alexandra Mathie) - A complex character with a delightful giggle and amusing little habbits. Showed a real strength as things progressed and had a few surprises up her sleave. Vry strong leading performance.

Summary: Well acted all round. My problem is that I never for one moment believed the storyline. I'm not sure if it was the basic set that did it as it never gave the impression of a house needing protection or just the plain silly direction that the story went in. I look forward to seeing what amateur groups do with this piece.

Ten times table - Hoddesdon players

Date seen: 20 April 2012

Venue: Very good. Large seating area with a well run bar. The auditorium is large with tiered seating and another few rows of free standing seating near the stage.

Set: Fairly simple but perfect for the play. The small stage at the back with the piano was good and both exits were well used.

Costumes: For the committee meetings they were unremarkable but fine. The John Cockle T-shirts were very bright and nicely designed. The costumes for the pageant were all brilliant.

Plot: Set in the ballroom of the dilapidated Swan Hotel, a group of local members of the Pendon community are brought together to organise a town pageant based on a lost piece of local history, the massacre of the Pendon Twelve – where the Earl of Dorset crushed an uprising of rebellious workers, led by John Cockle. The committee comprises disparate characters with very different views of what the pageant should be and what it represents.

As the meetings progress, the group becomes ideologically divided with the left-wing side, led by a Marxist Polytechnic teacher, building it up as a political rally. The right-wing side of the committee formulating plans for a violent confrontation in response.

Performances: Ray (Mike Marsh) - Had a Richard Wilson like pained expression, but was very amusing and played the part well.

Donald (Malcolm Trayhorn) - Superb, perfectly nerdish and irritating.

Helen (Christine Holt) - Make-up was a bit in your face, but she played the part well and was particularly funny in her last scene

Sophie (Suzanne Austin) - Attractively played and worked ever so hard especially when she wasn't actively engaged in dialogue.

Eric (Chris Whalley) - Surly and a deeply unpleasant character. Well portrayed though with just the right level of controlled fanaticism.

Audrey (Mary Newton) - Stole every scene she was in. Dream of a part for an actress of mature years. Absolutely hilarious.

Lawrence (Rob Ash) - It's so hard to play being drink believably. He certainly pulled it off and one round of applause after a long speech was well deserved.

Tim (Stephen Brody) - More effective when he played the captain rather than just Tim. Because of the way this actor speaks, he needed to slow the dialogue down. A lot of it merged into a a string of words that were difficult to make-out.

Philippa (Jurgita Baleviciute) - Delightful in her opening scene. She spoke so quietly that it was difficult to make out anything she said in act 2 due to the piano playing.

Max (Simon Tipple) - Very small part, perfect for a beginner.

Summary: There was a terrible masking issue in scene one of the opening act that lasted for between 5-10 minutes. A few scenes could have been tightened but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it and laughed out loud on many occasions. A  huge amount of effort had been put in and I certainly hope to see more Ayckbourn's from this company in the future.