Communicating Doors

I confess I didn't have a clue what "communicating doors" meant until I saw this show. I do now.  Doors that connect adjoining hotel rooms internally. In RaTs' set design of a London hotel suite, this was uppermost in their production, designed by Phill Young this was superb!! Well done and, along with Neil Balderston on props, it set the scene for this play.

Communicating Doors begins and ends in the year 2044 (I think). As the play opens, a sickly Reece Welles (Andy Anderson), a wealthy businessman, is in his suite with Julian Goodman (Andrew Deamer), his business partner. Reece has called for the services of a self-styled leather clad dominatrix by the name of Poopay (Mia Heathcote). After Julian exits, we learn that the only servicing Reece desires of Poopay is that she signs a witness document. In relation to his impending death, he wants to confess all the acts that he and Julian have committed. These are from simple lies and dishonesty to the murders of both his wives. The plot thickens as we get into the middle of the play. Thank goodness there was a screen that depicted the year we were in - if that hadn’t been there I and the audience would have been lost. Great thinking.

From the casting to its direction (Joanna Goodman and Alex Green) and design, this production was a triumph for direction and cast choice, including Mia Heagthcote, Andy Anderson, Amanda Miller, Darren Hammock, Alice Tilley, and Andrew Deamer all the cast milking every farcical nuance, squeezing all out of every ounce of comedy, grasping each absurdity and not letting go. This was truly a cast that were talented to carry off this difficult piece of Alan Ayckbourn’s writing.
 

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