Accidental Death of an Anarchist

I have attended several plays performed by Nantwich Players so far in my role as District Rep, and Accidental Death of an Anarchist was by far the funniest and craziest. With a laugh a minute from start to finish, and a fast pace kept up throughout, Nantwich Players have certainly done a great job with this production under the direction of Charlie Gobbett (assisted by Carla Gonen). They have effectively pulled all the comedy within this play to the forefront with physical gags in the set/props, clever staging and delivery of dialogue from the cast. The pace was slowed down when it came to making poignant remarks about the different statistics in policing (from years gone by), which helped to make the points hit home for the audience. This show did not call for heavy use of lighting changes with it all being set in the same off, however I did appreciate the switch to a spotlight during these moments. Closing Act 1 with a song sung very badly (on purpose, might I add) and then opening Act 2 with the same song sung very well by the cast was a great moment and very much in keeping with the feeling of the show.

Throughout the production, the set was pretty much static with the only change being moving from one floor to another – hilariously represented by changed the number card on the wall and The Maniac moving the furniture around. Included in the static set was a filing cabinet with the longest ever drawer! Dressing the set were posters, calendars and a bulletin board. Great levels of attention to detail were exhibited here, I even had to get my phone out during the interval to zoom in on some of the pieces hung on the noticeboard! One of the most effective parts of the production was the window, with soft streets sounds being played whenever it was open. These were all perfectly in time with the cast opening/closing the window. Another great touch was a whiteboard on the wall for The Maniac to draw on throughout.

Simon Porter played the role of Superintendent Curry very well with some lovely comedy moments. A lot of Simon’s performance was at one level, in terms of volume and emotion, but this worked well for the character and helped to portray his frustrations with the other characters. There were several occurrences of tripping over lines which did affect the pace of the scenes; however, this was a strong performance overall. Detective Daisy was played by Max Tebbitts who gave a convincing performance as the “hard-faced” cop, bringing a lot of dry humour to the stage. When he showed the softer side to the character it was touching yet hilarious. He really had the audience won over with this performance.

Marianne Hill played both PC Jackson and Fi Phelan. Her performance as Fi was a convincing one, really playing on the “annoying” nature that comes as a stereotype of journalists. The role of Inspector Burton was played by Geoff Smith. I found Geoff’s performance to be a little rigid, however this may have been a choice based on the character, I just felt it hard to connect as an audience member.  Some of Mark Norris’ moments as PC Joseph absolutely stole the show for me. He was consistently in character from start to finish, pulling laughs from the audience even when the attention was not on him. I particularly enjoyed his “background typing” work. A great performance from Mark.

The role of The Maniac is possibly one of the biggest and wordiest that I have ever witnessed. Seb Jamson-Smith took on this role and absolutely nailed it. Everything from covering his head in shaving foam to picking his nose in the background with a fake hand was performed with complete conviction. There were contrasts throughout, constantly flitting from light to dark, slow to fast, loud to quiet. These were all portrayed expertly from Seb. Most of the dialogue was delivered quickly and frantically, but Seb could still be completely understood in everything he was saying. His work with the audience when breaking the fourth wall was brilliant, and he delivered impressive comedy timing for the duration of the show. The different voices and accents used were absolutely spot on and in all the right places (I don’t know how he didn’t get them mixed up!). A highlight for me was earlier in the show when The Maniac answers the phone. It’s just him on stage having a conversation that the audience cannot hear the other side of. This was played brilliantly by Seb. The energy, pace and physicality that Seb performed with was an utter pleasure to watch!

Overall, this was a hilariously funny production with all the rights gags in all the right places. The cast of 6 bringing their characters to life and managing to get through the complete chaos without too many hiccups is commendable.

Thank you to Nantwich Players for their invite to watch the show, and I wish them the best of luck with their next production, And Then There Were None, to be performed at the end of June at Nantwich Players Theatre.

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