Black Comedy & Bride Before a Fall

It is almost 52 years since the premiere of Peter Shaffer's extraordinary farce, Black Comedy.

As the play opens, the audience sits in total darkness. Then, when the lights fuse, the stage lights come on – so a fully lit stage is a stage in which the actors are in darkness; a pitch black auditorium means the actors are in light; and half-light serves for moments of illumination when lit with matches or portable torches.

A young man and his girlfriend wait anxiously for the arrival of her father and a potential buyer for his artwork. Suddenly the lights go out and they are pitched into total darkness. An elderly neighbour stumbles in, frightened in the dark. Then the military father arrives followed unexpectedly by the neighbour whose furniture the man has borrowed to impress the potential buyer. To make matters worse the man's other girlfriend turns up and impersonates the cleaner to confuse things even further. Then the electricity repair man arrives, and finally the millionaire buyer.  Are you still with me?  All this is, of course, a recipe for chaos.  

Director Judith Willows opted for a two-level set with a sixties-style look which was perfect.  She also plotted the moving of the borrowed furniture back across the hall carefully.  Brindsley’s removal of the dining chair with the legs passing either side of the heads of those on the settee was genuinely funny and had the audience roaring with laughter.

The cast was first-rate.  During their “periods of darkness” they felt their way around the room convincingly.  

Phil Chapman was marvellous as the hapless Brindsley, and with an ever-increasing pile of bare-faced lies, he provided much of the focus of the comedy.

Janice Chambers gave great support as Carol his silly, twittering girlfriend, with John Beresford punctilious and pedantic as her military father – there was a priceless moment with the rocking chair which was anticipated by the audience but not by the actor!

Hilary Stokes, who played the teetotal Miss Furnival was in fine form. The moment when she realised that she has been given gin instead of bitter lemon was very funny.

Katy Baker as Clea, the other girlfriend, was very good especially when pretending to be the cleaning woman. 

Making his stage debut with HLT Jonathan Holburn gave a nicely judged performance as Harold Gorringe the prissy, fussy and camp neighbour.  He got a great laugh with a casual throwaway line (“You sure this is the right time?) when, in the dark, Brindsley whispers to Clea that she should wait for him in the bedroom and Harold thinks Brindsley means him.

There was good support from Mark Thurman as the long-suffering electricity board employee and, briefly, by Bic Baker as Bamberger the eccentric and deaf millionaire 

The set, props and costumes were wonderfully retro and added greatly to the production.  Huge congratulations to Phil Dale in the lighting box.  Absolutely excellent control of the lighting for this challenging play.  Not a missed cue.  Well done too Charlie Smith on sound and special effects.  

Black Comedy was great fun.

After the interval we had another farce by award-winning playwright Robert Scott with the much newer Bride Before A Fall.  This neat 35 minute long play had a more straightforward story line - or so it seemed.

Victor has a problem. He is married, although this isn't the full extent of his problem. Victor also has a long term relationship with Madelyn, the love of his life. 

The plan was simple. Find someone rich, desperate and dimwitted for Victor to marry to eventually take a large sum of money in a divorce settlement ...and who could be richer, more desperate and more dimwitted than Lottie. A loud, irritating and nauseating creature with a high piecing shrill laugh and snort for good measure.  However the plan goes slightly wrong when at the last minute Lottie's father persuades her to organise a prenuptial agreement. In the hope that one day Victor and Madelyn will think of another way to get his hands on the cash, he goes ahead with the marriage. After a few months of wedded hell to literally the most annoying person on earth, Victor needs a way out and Madelyn may have the solution ... murder. If only Lottie was that easy to kill …

The extremely talented Sarah Stevens imbued Madelyn (the Mistress) with great cunning. She oscillated between lover, best friend and potential murderess in a worryingly convincing performance.  Whilst Marion Campbell, superb as Lottie, drove husband and friend mad with a piercingly shrill laugh.   In the face of two very strong performances by his women Mike Bass as Victor, the reluctant husband, was a bit outshone but who, nevertheless did a very good job.  

Bride Before a Fall was performed in front of the Black Comedy set which was obscured with excellent drapes, obviously hiding a picture window (in our imaginations). Once again in evidence were suitable and high quality props, continued with the same nice touch in the hallway seen off stage right when the door opened. 

Again this was fun to watch as Madelyn and Victor worked their way through the “many ways on how to murder” app.  No spoilers but they didn’t reckon on No. 37 the lightning strike!

Congratulations to Judith Willows and her cast(s) and thanks HLT for an enjoyable evening.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.