Act Your Age- A Musical Farce

Being a fan of farce and musical theatre, I was really looking forward to Grange Musical Theatre Society's latest offering, "Act Your Age - A Musical Farce". Normally before seeing something I'd never seen before, let alone heard of, I would do a little research/listen to the soundtrack before viewing. In the case of this production, I went, as per most of the audience, totally unaware of what events would unfold before my eyes. As with most farces, the story usually starts in an innocuous way, through some ridiculous scenarios with a happy ending where everything is resolved and we all live happily ever after.

The main location for the action is the interior of a clinic, the aptly named Celebrity Sanctuary- offering relaxation, various therapeutic remedies and rest for those who could afford them - generally (as the name suggests) celebrities.

We open with Valerie and Pat (Trudi Carter and Deborah Wilde), the sanctuary owner and last remaining staff member, lamenting the business (as only musical theatre can in word and song). Celebrity Sanctuary is basically skint, in debt and devoid of patients of any real status-bar, of course the two remaining patients, Angela the nymphomaniac (Anne Clarke) and Melanie (Pam Downs), who may or may not have been celebrity in the past - Z list though, aspiring to be A-list.

Both Trudi and Deborah played their roles well, and the audience warmed to them throughout the production.

Valerie takes a call from someone's Agent - A certain somebody, named Victoria (plus entourage) will be arriving at the sanctuary to stay. Valerie immediately jumps to the conclusion (and who on Earth wouldn't) that Victoria (Georgia Hill) is some A-List Celebrity who might be the answer to her dreams.

Elsewhere (Just up the road), due to an incident whilst the road was being dug up, an old folks home has been left bereft of power and water - the owner, Mrs Hewitt, played by Terri Foley, decides to take the old folk to Celebrity Sanctuary where they'll at least have running water and flushable loos!

Seizing on an opportunity, Valerie convinces the old folk to act as staff for when the celebrity, Victoria, turns up. The old folk, devoid of any real pleasure in life, jump (or is that "rise slowly") at the chance. Following on from this a progression of other people enter the clinic - a reporter (Simon McCleery), Photographer (Martin Gregory), Mario (Howard St Quinton) and John (Neil Hastings) in the role of John, Jenny's jealous fiance.

The scene is, of course, now set for some hi jinx and japery, midnight shananigans, John searching for Jenny, Angela searching for Mario, reporter and photographer looking for revelations from the celebrity world. With "celebrities" receiving bizarre treatments from the non skilled old folk to people meeting in the dark in closets, and all set to music and singing....what could possibly go wrong?

And this was just the first Act!

Without spoiling the plot too much, the second Act is much the same, with set pieces of perfectly placed towels, semi-naked bodies, diamond studded underwear, a jewel thief - Gerry Jackal (Reece Carter), Iris - one of the old folk who isn't actually an old person, but has been using the home to stash her stolen goods. Iris was probably my favourite character in the show, and, once exposed, played with enthusiasm by Claire Unsworth.

As with many a farce, everything comes to to a head, everything is resolved in a Gilbert and Sullivan way, and those who should be, end up with who they should and where they should.

The main thing with Act Your Age, is that there were a lot of roles, and because of that - just as you were getting to invest in a character, another turned up. Everyone in the production played their characters well, and should be pleased with their efforts.

I will say, at the end of Act 1, there was a lot of confusion as to exactly what was happening/had happened. I thought I must have missed something, so kept quiet, but there were quite a few people asking the same questions. It reminded me of the tv series "Soap", where the voiceover states "Confused, you won't be, after this week's episode of Soap"- that seemed to be how those around me felt, but of course, didn't by the end of the show.

Staging wise, I did feel that there could have been more seating against the bulkheads, and another by the desk - just to give a couple more levels for the Pat and Valerie scenes. I must admit, when I get older and more infirm, I'd like to be taken to a clinic like this.....within hours, those on zimmer frames and in wheelchairs were walking unaided. I liked the flattage/doors- these worked well, and added to clinic feel. The pictures in the programme showed that the set had been worked on for some time, which showed in the flow of the performance and the timing of lighting changes.

The hardest working person on the night in the theatre was the Musical Director, Eleanor Fonth. Eleanor had obviously worked hard on the harmonies throughout, and with melodies overlapping, trying to keep the cast focussed on her and the backing track, definitely had her work cut out. With using a backing track, many of the cast relied a little too much on standing as close to centre as possible and taking their cue from Eleanor - this was mainly in the "more crowded" scenes, but it was noticeable. On those occasions, I can only assume that people were in their line of peripheral sight, as having seen a couple of Grace's productions, and her attention to realism/detail she wouldn't have set it that way.

Grace Heap as Director, must have been really pleased with the final production . This was no small undertaking - an unknown show, unknown music and large cast must have been (at times) hard work. Well done, Grace.

Well done, Grange Musical Theatre Society, for undertaking the challenge of bringing a new show to the area.

Thank you for your invitation and your hospitality.

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.