Cold Front

Cold Front by Alan Robinson – a new author to me - is set in a very basic and remote cabin in Scotland, where three couples come together for a birthday surprise, organised by the hapless Mike for his wife Karen. While they are trapped in the cabin by heavy snow, their personalities clash, confusions arise and they inevitably fall out. This is a well-constructed play, with many laugh-out-loud moments, and the tensions and misunderstandings are allowed to build to a hilarious climax in Act 2, before being resolved as the snow melts away.

Director Toni Tovery has chosen a strong cast and allowed them all to develop their individual characters nicely. The well-built set (designed by Cliff Mullins) really emphasises how stark and uncomfortable this cabin is. The very realistic-looking rusty corrugated iron walls, well-timed sound effects of howling wind and sprinkles of snow on the characters’ heads as they came in all added to this, making us feel cold and unsettled despite the warmth and comfort of the hall. While the pace in Act 1 could perhaps have been a little faster, the play really cracked along in Act 2, making the most of the comedy in the script.

Dene Woods’ portrayal of Mike, organiser of the weekend, was spot on. We really felt for him in his stuttering inability to get anything right (the cabin, the weather, the food or the company) for his wife, whose birthday they were celebrating. Laura Willis played wife Karen very aggressively: a real force to be reckoned with, making it crystal clear how unhappy she was with the arrangements, and her marriage in general. She softened nicely at the end when she realised that maybe Mike wasn’t so bad after all.

Stuart Dickenson and Amy Gould made the perfect annoying couple, Malcolm and Miriam. You could clearly see why no one wanted to invite them to parties let alone a weekend away. Stuart made Malcolm’s pedantic interest in the minutiae of life almost endearing, while Amy’s voice for Miriam was like finger nails scraping down a blackboard, but the character was not so awful that you could not still feel some sympathy for her. Kate Burrows was a wonderfully vampish Christina, the latest in a long line of tarty girlfriends of James, Mikes long-time mate and an inveterate drinker. She was totally believable is her obsession with her looks and constantly coming on to other men. Brendan McCarthy got James’s increasing drunkenness just right, and his growing horror that he might have kissed Mike – or worse – while drunk was a joy to behold.

As always with this group, we enjoyed a very warm welcome from the Front of House team and went home feeling well satisfied with our evening’s entertainment from this quality group.

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