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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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The loudest sound is laughs Noises Off
Swan Theatre Amateur Company
Swan Theatre, Worcester
**** ANYONE who has ever been involved in any
theatrical production at whatever level will know disaster is just a
fluffed line or missing prop away while there is often more comedy and
better drama offstage than on. That was what struck
Michael Frayne in 1970 as he watched a performance of his farce
The Two of Us
from the wings. Twelve years later Noises off was born,
the tale of a small touring company criss-crossing the country with a
second rate farce on stage and a first rate one backstage as jealousies,
affairs and high-strung theatricals clash in the wings. It seems an easy production to do, a bad play
made worse when things go wrong, and loads of backstage running about
and bickering. How wrong can you be. Making a play go wrong right, if
you see what I mean, is not easy and the set requirements are a
challenge for any amateur company. You need a full stage set for the play which
requires at least seven doors and a solid upstairs – farces are not
complete without bedrooms - which then has to be reversed so you see the
back of the set for the second act, and then has to be reversed again
for the final act. And, just so the audience don’t have to bring
sandwiches and sleeping bags for between acts, those reversals have to
be achieved in normal length intervals.
Farce and comedy is not the easiest to perform,
timing is everything, and the cast of nine never seemed to put a foot
wrong, or would that be right . . . anyhow it ran badly smoothly with
the cast, like the audience, seeming to enjoy every minute.
We had Tony Childs as the director Lloyd Dallas,
who bullies, cajoles and comforts his cast through the production,
comforting the emotional Assistant Stage Manager Poppy, played by Lucy
Bannister, a little too much we discover later in his love triangle
which also involves Vicki, who plays Brooke, the tax inspector and bit
on the side in the play and in turn is played by Poppy Cooksey-Heyfron.
Vicki is in a world of her own and loses her contact lenses on a regular
basis. Then there is Dotty Otley who is playing Mrs
Clackett the sardine obsessed housekeeper with both being played by
Janet Bright, if you follow, and actor Garry Lejeune, playing randy
Roger, estate agent and would be-lothario, who is played by Steve
Willis. The pair have a thing going which has trouble written all over
it. Garry has a slight stutter and ends every
sentence midway through with “you know”, as in “It’s been a nice . . .
you know”. He also has violent tendencies as we discover when Dotty
winds him up by showing an interest in Freddy. Freddy being actor Frederick Fellowes who plays
successful writer Philip Brent in the play within a play and is played
by Paul Bellamy. He not one of nature’s gifted; Freddy questions the
simplest stage direction and needs to know his motivation as an actor
before continuing, exasperating Lloyd who humours him. He has the
novelty of instant nosebleeds at any hint of violence or mention of
blood. Jane Lush plays actress Belinda Blair, who in
turn plays Philip’s wife Flavia. Belinda seems about the sanest of the
cast ad fusses over Freddy backstage. ANCIENT THESPIAN Craftiest of the cast is Selsdon who plays the
burglar and is in turn played by Jim Austin. Selsdon is an ancient
Thespian, hard of hearing with a penchant for whiskey and the ability to
create mass panic if he goes missing, which he does regularly,
generating fears he will miss cues or even whole performances,
eventually being found tired and emotional as a newt. Trying, with little success to hold everything
together is stage manager and understudy for Selsdon, Tim, played by
Lewis Jones. We follow the first act of Nothing On
around the highlights of the touring circuit from Weston-Super-Mare to
Ashton-Under-Lyne and its final performance in Stockton-on-Tees in a
whirl of laughs and slapstick. Frayn’s script exploits the weaknesses in each
character in the backstage bickering which starts to impact on what
happens onstage while the cast manage the necessary distinction between
the characters they play and the characters their characters play
onstage, all of which adds another layer to the humour. The second act depends heavily on mime and
although it becomes a little confused at times it is still frantic fun,
full of violence and nose bleeds, whiskey and flowers, and a dramatic
revelation to stop everyone in their tracks. Director Sue Smith manages
to keep up a cracking pace throughout but particularly in that backstage
second act when actions have to speak louder than words for much of the
time. A play about a play with things going wrong on
and off stage, absurdly, cannot afford any mistakes and none were
noticeable in a fine production full of laughs – the ideal way to lift
the gloom of winter for a couple of hours. To 15-11-14. Roger Clarke
12-11-14 |
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