Curtain Up!

Peter Quilter’s “Curtain Up!” has long been a staple of the amateur theatre world. The reasons for this soon become blatantly obvious from the outset of Enville Street Dramatic Society’s production – it is an extremely well-constructed play, it plays on all your emotions, it has amazing comedy highs and thought-provoking poignant lows and it demonstrated the amazing talents proudly on display by five confident women on top of their game.

The story centres on the joint inheritance of a dilapidated old theatre by what appears a slightly at odds quintet. The mood for the evening is set from the start – with the appearance of the ubiquitous rat bringing to the mind the sinking ship metaphor as well as emphasising the general state of the theatre. 
As our story unfolds, we delve into the relationships between the five characters, all linked to their benefactor. Michael. The most enthusiastic of the heirs is Michael’s daughter – “Theresa”, played insightfully by newcomer to Enville Street, Emma Chance, who, despite being surrounded by nay-sayers, is determined to make a go of the project and does so with supreme confidence. Then there’s his somewhat incongruous punk Executive Assistant, “Sharon” played with great delight and pink wig by Vicki Pritchard, Michael’s ex-wife and Theresa’s mother, “Pam”, played by Enville Street relative newcomer, Sally Kent, who relishes in the fact that she thinks the whole scheme is totally ridiculous, and coupled with an inability to show any tact whatsoever, gives Vicki full rein to demonstrate an excellent character performance. Added to the mix we have Michael’s mother, “Betty”, played with great comic effect by Carey Esthop, wringing every ounce of humour our of the role, timed to perfection and last, but by no means least is “Jackie”, Michael’s current wife and reason he left “Pam”, and the real reason why “Pam” wants nothing to do with the project and to see if fail miserably! 

Chris Porter’s debut as a Director gave us a well-received, closeknit production showing the gamut of emotions on display, we see relationships change, we see bitterness turned into friendship, we see tears, laughter, love and hate but most of all we see absurd situations played for great humorous effect in the safe hands of this accomplished team. Highlights for me were: “Jackie” walking around with Michael’s ashes in the urn; “Pam’s” smouldering dislike of “Jackie”; “Sharon’s” dieting – which seems to involve a lot of eating; “Betty”, who thinks “Sharon’s” boyfriend has vimto tattooed on his forehead, it’s actually vomit! And “Theresa” forcing out of date food on everyone at every available opportunity. Not forgetting some great touches of audience participation – The Macarena and Agadoo, which seemed to leave some of the younger members of the audience wondering what on earth they had let themselves in for but those of us of a certain, were soon joining in with gusto!

As time moves on the five protagonists begin to pull together despite their differences and in stead of Michael’s theatre – it becomes their theatre, but that attracts with it further issues – the main one being money! But that’s not going to hold our quintet back – what they need is celebrity backing and that comes when their idea for a local talent show catches the attention of no less than Liza Minelli! What could possibly go wrong?
Act 2 takes us from front to house onto the theatre stage, preparing for the impending visit of the Academy Award and Emmy winning actress and singer – but there’s a snag, Liza can’t make it!  The incredible ticket sales and the future of the theatre have been based on the star’s appearance – there is only course of action, “Pam”, the best un-lookalike, lookalike has to go on in her place, a brilliant performance from Sally Kent, showing amazing versatility with these two diametrically opposed sides of “Pam’s” character. More laugh out loud comedy ensues as we head towards the inevitable end and we discover the real reason behind Michael’s weird bequest – to make sure all five become a family and get on!

The production moved along with great pace, helped by excellent technical support from the Production Team, all seemed to be in very capable hands and much appreciated.

It was great to see Enville Street Dramatic Society back on stage and I would like to thank everyone for making me most welcome, I look forward to your next production with excited anticipation.

 

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