Anybody For Murder

First of all I would like to congratulate ‘The Entertainers’ on their 40th anniversary, a superb achievement.

This was the first time that I had seen this comedy thriller by Brian Clemens and Dennis Spooner and I was not disappointed. Played in the round, and set in a room of a remote Greek Island villa, Max and his lover Suzy planned to murder his wife Janet. Plans and plots hatch and soon everyone is bent on murder, all that stands in their way is the presence of a neighbour who knows a thing or two about murder.

Act One was very much scene setting, with various sub-plots. All the principles were well suited to their roles and all played their parts very well. George Ticklewell and his wife Mary were excellently portrayed by Tim Tranter and Sue Gardner, he the ‘hen pecked’ husband and she the ‘nagging wife’. I also thought that Anne Dickinson as Elsie did well in this role, not an easy part to play. Two delightful performances showing their talents came from Abi Cooper playing Janet Harrington, and Katherine Waterhouse as Suzy Stevens, it can’t have been easy being carried or dragged around the floor. All members of the cast appeared to enjoy their time on stage, keeping the pace at just the right tempo, with all the twists and turns.

The success of the play owed much to the excellent portrayal of Max Harrington by Andrew Thompson, I thought he was brilliant, he has wonderful facial expressions with superb comic timing, a natural flair for comedy, how the audience laughed heartily. The simple but effective set worked well, the costumes looked good, not forgetting the prompt and congratulations to the director for making this evening such an enjoyable one. Thank you.

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