Chase Me Up Farndale Avenue, S'il Vous Plait!

A French farce has arrived at The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society, and the formidable ladies do it like no one else: An unintelligible plot, a plethora of doors and a grand range of characters make this Farndale offering as bubbly as a glass of champagne.

Unfortunately, the production suffers a setback when one of the cast in the play is indisposed and so Minnie, from the wardrobe team is called in to play several roles, like most of the other cast, but with script nervously in hand. The plot eventually becomes irrelevant as the chaos is made worse by the technical department who add their own brand of calamity to the proceedings with mistimed and mistaken sound effects. That said, the sound effects provided by the Players added to the mayhem perfectly! Another excellent well-built set consisting of 4 doors, a secret cupboard and window, set predominantly in a bedroom, albeit one door and the bed collapse and another door to the bathroom is rather high to use, all intentional of course.

The audience is introduced to the evening by the Guild Chairperson, Phoebe Reece, played by Karen Evans, who completely captured the market for comic facial reactions, including when playing her other roles as Frank and Mary Carrott. Christine Kislak provided a triumphant performance as the stand-in Minnie, from the wardrobe team, as well as when playing Roger Parrot and Jacques Charot – loved the comb over wig and moustache and at one moment in the middle of a scene Minnie could not resist adjusting some-one else’s costume! Another providing an excellent performance throughout was Jude Sanderson as Thelma Greenwood when she wasn’t being Brigitte Charot, Jack Garrett (the plumber) and Norah Garrett! Good change of accents and fine voice too.

Casey Benson as Felicity Chambers provided more fun as Fifi (the French maid), entering too soon to hoover up, and later playing Constance Barrett. It becomes evident that Brigitte (Sanderson) and Roger (Kislak) are having an affair and Frank Carrott (Evans) is having a liaison with Virginia Parrott – played splendidly by Tim Wilson (when not himself as Gordon Bennett).

The audience could not be blamed for losing any plot that existed, when the main characters were constantly changing from being Carrotts, Parrots, Barretts, Garretts or Charots – not that it really mattered! The pace quickened as doors from every direction were being opened and closed, all well timed, and I think at one point even the cast were confused who they were!   Mike Morgan as Stephen Winthrop playing George Barrett and Esther Povey as Ruby Rogers playing Jojo (a Frenchman) provided great support completing the cast of no weak links. There were many laugh-out loud moments and the kicking routine at the conclusion of the play was brilliant.

We the audience for this production were all sat at tables, cabaret style and in the interval delightful refreshments (French bread, pate and brie of course) were provided whilst listening to Edith Piaf. This was a crazy play well directed by Penny Sant and everyone involved are to be congratulated.

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