Bedroom Farce

As the local Noda  Regional Rep for district 6 I was delighted to be invited by Sue Cox to see and review this fun filled play .

Alan Ayckbourn continues to write wonderful plays, Bedroom Farce being one of many . First performed in 1975 in Scarborough and soon moving to the National Theatre in London in 1977.

Leah Rhodes -Burch having been involved in theatre for many years makes this production her debut in directing, and must be complimented in her vision .This play requires extremely clever timing ,excellent space and stage awareness from the actors ,whilst bringing out the many comic moments of which there are many.

Four completely differing couples in three bedrooms. Well  one may ask ! Performing this play  in restricted stage space adds many complexities to the staging,timing and performer discipline. 

Stage right we have the established well to do couple of Ernest and Delia ,John Castell and Sue McCormick .two very experienced performers .Ernest total absorbed by the state of the house or more to the point...the roof.. ,whilst his wife Delia spends time choosing her clothes with considerable uncertainty ,making sure appearances are correct  and often talking to herself whilst Ernest continues to whittle about the damp. 

Bedroom two, stage left ,less pristine we meet Nick and Jan ,played by Mel McCart and Angela Blackwell. They gave great performances .Nick the perfect example of a woe is me male , having the technically difficult task of spending almost the entire show in bed ,displaying the many faces of a man with a pulled back ,I hope the bed wasn't making it worse?Whilst Jan portrayed the get up and go ,showing some excellent execution of lines to Nick,along with great scenes with other actors in the other rooms.

Bedroom three,centre stage , we meet the young couple starting out ,dubious furniture,poor decorations and a hopeless DIY ability by Malcolm  played by Jon Allen, who along with Kate played by Lesley Dallow acted out some excellent scenes, wonderful facial reactions as matters went from bad to worse as they attempted to host a party ,which was seriously destroyed by the arrival of couple number four , Trevor and Susannah,played by Joe Otten and Jan Ibberson. Trevor being the Don Juan ,forever giving out the wrong female names,while the downtrodden insecure Jan, depicting a need for calming tablets. Both acted out their roles with great conviction .

The opening music,Love and Marriage , appropriately opening the play containing so many wonderful lines,... Overtipping...sardines... crumbs in the bed..the coats scenes....are you bored ? am I boring ? am I really boring ? The avoidance of under the covers references between Susannah and Delia ....and so many more memorable comments.

I very much liked the set ,cleverly thought out depicting the three bedrooms and the lighting was  mainly  done very well, bearing in mind the volume of changes all within the very tight acting space. The performers all showed excellent discipline working within their own limited areas. 

A challenging play performed very well, I felt that Act 1 was a little slow but that is often down to telling the story  but I  loved the way it increased in pace through Act 2.

Thank you for the hospitality and welcome we received  and enjoy the remaining shows.

If you haven't bought your ticket yet make sure you do not miss this play. You will not be disappointed.

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