Confusions

Huntingdon Drama Club should be congratulated on their presentation of ‘Confusions’ which consists of a series of five interconnected one-act plays all loosely linked by their characters or locations and through the underlying themes of obsession, isolation and the need for companionship.  Having a number of different directors could have led to five plays with five very different visions but instead each play almost felt as if it had been directed by the same person and worked well for the overall effect.

The smallish Commemoration Hall stage was well-used with a black backdrop to which were added the relevant items of props and furniture for each play.  The quality of the sound and lighting, by Jason Austin and Max Richardson respectively, was spot on with no obvious issues.  The make-up was fine and all the costumes and props were exactly as I would have expected them to be. I must congratulate the Stage Management team.  I wouldn’t normally name-check them but Jennie Osborne, Eva Fekete, Debbie Stringer and Melissa Gibson were excellent. They smoothly and swiftly exchanged one set for another with great efficiency. Impressive.

The play depends on convincing characterisation and perfect timing and I was impressed with the casts who delivered to a high degree, presenting compelling well-rounded characters.  The playlets are Mother Figure, Drinking Companion, Between Mouthfuls, Gosforth’s Fete and A Talk in the Park.

Mother Figure, directed by Dean Laccohee, depicts Lucy, a mother so caught up with the demands of her offspring and left isolated by her travelling salesman husband that she lives in her dressing gown, no longer relating to the outside world. When neighbour Rosemary pops in to check she is okay, followed by husband Terry, she treats them as children and they eventually respond by behaving like them. Katie Gouskos gave a fine performance as distracted, overworked, absent-minded mother Lucy, well supported by Josephine Hussey and Justin Allum  as neighbours Rosemary and Terry. Their deterioration from woman to girl and man to boy was great and the ending of being made to hold hands to go home together, leaving Lucy in her isolated world once more, was well played.

Drinking Companion, directed by Andy Wilkes is based in a lounge bar of a corporate hotel with James Barwise as a wonderfully cringe worthy Harry trying unsuccessfully to chat up Paula (Naomi Ing) and lure her to his hotel room. He became increasingly drunk and desperate, which was excruciating and amusing to watch. He created a believable but ludicrous character. Naomi managed to depict a tolerant Paula, eager to escape but too polite to do so, unlike friend Bernice, nicely played by Theresa Kopplin, who had clearly encountered many versions of  Harry before, and had no compunction about being rude to rescue her friend.  Georgie Bickerdike as the waiter made good use of her moments on stage using some nice facial expressions as she quickly summed up the situation opening up in front of her.  All three of the main actors did an excellent job of portraying their characters and it was clever how Harry’s efforts went from being funny to just being very sad and more than a little letchy as he constantly made clear he is in room 249!

Between Mouthfuls directed by Jacqueline Spencer, is set within the restaurant of the same hotel in play two although that isn’t really obvious. This was a very clever play, as the story unfolds pretty much from the point of view of the waitress, the audience only hears what she hears and the guests are in quiet conversation when she is on the other table.  Couples Martin (Matt Gurtler) and Polly (Louise West) at one table and Mr and Mrs Pearce (Chris Topham and Caroline Molony) at another, in the same hotel restaurant. We learn Martin works for Mr Pearce, Polly has just been on a holiday fling with him and Mrs Pearce is suspicious of an affair. The Waiter (Jen Spencer) flits back and forth, serving each couple and eavesdropping on their conversations.  This was a very clever technique and was very well played by all the actors involved. It was exceedingly well timed so that the conversation snippets alternated. There was excellent characterisation from the actors in this but Waiter Jen stole the scene with her lovely facial expressions, perfect timing and body language. The salad dressing was very amusing.

The fourth of the five plays Gosforth’s Fete directed by Tim Bold featured the reappearance of Mrs Pearce from the previous play and is the most farcical of the five playlets.  

The fete has been organised by Gosforth (well played by Phil Green) and his helper Milly (Brontë Beckett) who accidentally announces that she is carrying Gosforth’s baby to the whole fete, including her fiancée Stuart (Miles Greves) and the Vicar (Keir Sims).  To make matters worse the autocratic Mrs Pearce (wonderfully played by Steph Hamer) arrives early to open the fete. Stuart confronts Gosforth and Milly before getting drunk on sherry and neglecting the cubs who cause mayhem and send Mrs Pearce on a wild goose chase where she gets lost and returns covered in mud. On top of this the tap of the tea urn refuses to turn off, torrential rain becomes a thunderstorm and Mrs Pearce is electrocuted. The least believable occurrence for me here was the disfunctioning tea urn as it wasn’t quite obvious that it was gushing water.  That aside, the cast did well with their acting, interactions and timing, and well done to the Techies on some great effects.

A Talk In The Park directed by Nathanael Spalding, was a change of gear where five characters sit on different benches. This play is set in the same park where the Gosford Fete was set and the setting was simply achieved through the use of four different park benches. It is quite a touching play which deals with man’s isolation. Five complete strangers feeling miserable because they are being ignored even though they themselves have just ignored someone else. The play starts with slightly weird Arthur (Matt Gurlter), trying to talk to Beryl (Kate Friday) who ignores him and goes to talk to Charles (Dean Laccohee), who in turn ignores her and goes to talk to Doreen (Paula Spalding), who continues the trend by ignoring him to talk to Ernest (Justin Allum), who in turn moves to talk to Arthur, before the whole merry-go-round starts again.  The action is very limited in this play so the actors acting ability was completely on show, and they all did a first-rate job. 

Overall, this was an exceptionally entertaining evening delivered by Huntingdon Drama Club.  It was great to see a variety of directors getting a chance to show what they could do and I hope that they all feel justifiably proud of what they achieved.  This was my first visit to Huntingdon Drama Club which I much enjoyed. Thank you for inviting me and I look forward to visiting you again soon.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.