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Toby, Andy Jones, and Dr Michael Smethurst
played by Rod Bissett.
Party Piece
The Grange Players
Grange Playhouse, Walsall
****
YOU have to admire the sheer work-rate
and athleticism of an excellent cast in this Richard Harris comedy which
is riddled with chaotic situations.
At times the humour is farcical and takes some
swallowing, since the story is built round a doctor and his wife staging
a fancy dress house-warming party-barbecue in the back garden of their
home.
Late in the action when one of the characters
points at Dr Michael Smethurst and snaps: “You are supposed to be a
medical man”, I found myself nodding in agreement.
At that point the good doctor, played with
terrific enthusiasm by Rod Bissett, is dressed as Ginger Rogers in a
fur-trimmed gown (and earlier a blonde wig) while his wife, Roma (Jill
Simkin) is in top hat and tails as Fred Astaire, as part of the reverse
roles format.
Jill covers a considerable distance dashing from
the garden to the front door to welcome guests, though in fact very few
turn up (did they know something) and she certainly puts her heart and
soul into the role.
But the star of this show is Sheila Grew, playing
Mrs Hinson, the widow next door with the acid wit whose poisonous
relationship with her latest daughter-in-law, Jennifer, provides some of
the more realistic humour.
MISCHIEVOUS GLINT
Never missing a chance to praise Jennifer’s
predecessor, with a mischievous glint in her eye, she repeatedly
antagonises wimpish son David’s furious wife before all three are
invited to join the failing party next door.
Liz Webster, as Jennifer, and Christopher Waters
(David) are convincing in their back garden battles, and Rod Bissett’s
commitment as the madcap medic is underlined late on as he hangs
precariously from the bedroom window ledge.
A couple of genuine guests who do turn up at the
weird house-warming are Toby Hancock, in kilt and fez, and man-mad Sandy
Lloyd-Meredith, wearing white hotpants and a red Welsh rugby
international shirt…clearly ready for a scrum.
Andy Jones gives a sound performance as Toby and
Louise Farmer excels as sexy Sandy who doesn’t need more than one drink
to go into her first tackle.
For this production the play is supposed to be in
Walsall, and set designer Martin Groves and his helpers Rob Onions and
Quinn Paddock have created a brilliant set with two adjoining houses and
rear gardens with flowers and even a pond, sheds, a porch and patio
windows opening to reveal the inside of the Smethursts’ home.
And between the two houses there is a realistic
painting shows the town’s St Matthews Parish Church in the distance.
Directed by Martin Groves and produced by David
Stone, Party Piece runs to 19-03-16
Paul Marston
And getting in the party spirit . . .
****
Although author Richard Harris is
relatively unknown to the general public, his writing has figured in
numerous hit television series and stage shows.
For television, he was
a regular contributor for forty years, from 1960 to 2000, writing for
shows like The Saint, The Avengers,
The Sweeney, A Touch of Frost, and
Darling Buds of May.
Some forty of his
plays have been performed for stage. Thus his grasp of drama, and
comedy, is a given. The only variable is the production. Harris fans
will see similarities with one of his earlier plays,
Local Affairs.
Events unfold in the back gardens of two adjacent
neighbours, as Doctor Michael and his wife Roma's fancy dress
house-warming party descends into disaster and chaos, incorporating a
notable shortage of guests, a shed engulfed by smoke, and an aerodynamic
Zimmer frame.
Grange Players have located the action in Walsall.
Martin Groves and his team have done a marvellous job creating a back
gardens set with full rear elevations, incorporating all manner of
associated horticultural paraphernalia, and a mural of a Walsall church.
Next door lives Mrs Hinson, an elderly woman
being persuaded to sell up by her son, David. Mrs Hinson is
curmudgeonly, scheming, duplicitous and has a Zimmer frame which her
long suffering daughter in law suspects is for cosmetic sympathy
purposes only.
Her downtrodden, over-mothered only son David,
(Ch ristopher
Waters) stoically battles with his mothers’ foibles, not least of which
is her refusal to accept his wife Jennifer (Liz Webster), while trying
to improve his mother’s (bad) humour.
Jennifer does not like being ignored, or being
compared to David’s previous consorts, resulting in regular mutual
sniping, culminating in her launching her mother in law’s Zimmer frame
into the distance with considerable enthusiasm.
Sandy played by Louise Farmer and Roma played by Jill
Simkin
Rod Bissett as Dr Michael portrays a neurotic,
fastidious man with an excessive estimation of his own talents, which
sadly do not include an ability to procure defrosted food for a
barbecue. His wife Roma, (Jill Simkin), struggles to help him to rectify
this omission, and his serial other shortcomings, to repeated comic
effect. She ends up as deflated as her squashed top hat. He ends up as a
man on the edge.
Only two invited guests actually turn up to the
barbecue, Toby (Andy Jones) and man-hunting Sandy, (Louise Farmer). Both
milk the most from their supporting roles, the former, in a kilt, after
free food and booze. The latter, after “up-for- it” men, sporting tight
white shorts which are somewhat hotter than the barbecue, a rather good
Welsh accent, and some good jokes. Both inject vital energy into the
second half script.
However, it is the abrasive and formidable long
standing resident Mrs Hinson, wonderfully played by Sheila Grew, who
steals the limelight. Initially she neither appreciates her upwardly
mobile new neighbours, nor the gentrification of the area, until the
benefits of having a doctor next door for her numerous ailments dawn on
her. Her own property and her persona are perfectly matched- frayed
around the edges.
Liz Webster, Christopher Waters and Sheila
combine formidably in the first half to garnish a slight script with
amusing bickering, and acid asides. The plot is enlivened overall by two
unseen figures; David’s first wife Rosemary, who stalks Jennifer through
Mrs Hinson’s rose tinted memory, and burly Gareth, husband of randy
Sandy, who stalks the party as his arrival, and the consequences, are
anticipated.
This is escapist fun, with improbable,
implausible plot twists, cross-dressing, and a big fat smile on its
face. Director Martin Groves and producer David Stone have realised a
fast-paced farce that depends upon rapid exits and entrances, timeous
sound effects, and perfect verbal and physical timing. It delivers in
spades, and with plenty of laughs. Party Piece runs to 19-03-16, returns
only for this sold out show.
Gary Longden
14-03-16
The Production has sold out.
www.grangeplayhouse.co.uk
boxoffice@grangeplayers.co.uk
or Box Office 01922 625100
or 07909036835 for returns
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