CONFUSIONS

Firstly I must admit I wondered how the lighting screens previewed on Facebook would work in actuality, but I found they added colour, brightness and information on the scenes, without lengthy scene changes.  Along with appropriate music, props and costumes colour coordinated with the scene lighting, we had interest from the start, making this a slick production.

Alan Ayckbourn is a master of amusing plays, and I think the division of directors to concentrate on their own stories gave it different reflections.  The five short plays all major on different relationships, which gave each one a separate nuance, all of which were relatable, despite being written 50 years ago.  The settings also helped to bring the stories up to date. 

Special recognition to the tech teams – Josh Mitchell for lighting design, Andrew Hayward for graphics and animation, Aidan Brown, Ben Bosworth and Liam Whiteside for audio visual and lighting – a formidable team, and I’m sure there was help and support from many others – excellent final overall effect.

I liked the fact that there were different nuances of some characters within the plays, showing their divergent sides.  I also felt that it must be challenging for the actors to have different directors, which they apparently adjusted to well.

It was good to see Adam Butcher back on stage – he played parts in four plays, I particularly liked him in Drinking Companions and Gosforth’s Fete – he created very different characters with apparent ease.

Emma Russon, a new face at the Rep, portrayed various different characters, I especially loved her Mrs Pearce in Between Mouthfuls, very forceful, and showing a slightly different side to that character in Gosforth’s Fete.  Lucy in Mother Figure had it’s own challenges which I thought Emma showed well.

Ben Dards got his teeth into some interesting personas.  I felt his character in Mother Figure was a little too childish, but otherwise I liked what he did with his other characters, especially Pearce in Between Mouthfuls.

Jo White gave us several good characters, all nicely imagined, and interacting well with other cast members, good costume choices too.  I was impressed with Rosemary in Mother Figure, some excellent facial expressions when faced with Lucy’s take on life - well done.

Sarah Cunnane was another new face for me, she was great fun as Paula in Drinking Companions and Milly in Gosforth’s Fete.  Polly in Between Mouthfuls was also a well-rounded portrayal - nicely achieved.

Asa Clark completed the cast in some smaller but nonetheless telling roles, it is good to see him developing and progressing, taking on the variety of parts in this production.  Asa created a good relationship with Polly in Between Mouthfuls.

My thanks to the Rep for their hospitality for a technically outstanding production (something we have come to expect and appreciate from the Rep) – however also a good production overall with plenty of comedy from an experienced cast.

Nova Horley

NODA Representative - NODA East District 3

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