Dead Ringer

Many thanks to Hall Players for inviting me along to see their production of Dead Ringers written by Charles Ross on Friday 27th January 2023. They wouldn’t have known this, but the week before I had fallen into a deep depression and had to peel myself from my pillow and out of the black hole to attend this production, and I’m really glad that I did! Directed by John Ellis, this production tells the story of an incumbent Prime Minister and his cabinet three days before the next election. The Prime Minister suddenly drops dead by what we think is a heart attack. As a knee jerk reaction, to save their political party from defeat, members of his cabinet decide to employ a look like actor to play the Prime Minister until the election is over before making an announcement to the nation of the late Prime Minister’s death. Mishaps and mayhems unravel, as it would be quite dull to watch things go to plan, and we learn that the heart attack was actually poisoning and the play resolves with true murder mystery style until we learn who the killer was.

Although a lengthy and quite wordy production, John produced a well paced and dynamic production, with a good sense of urgency, which engaged the audience throughout. He used the text to reflect on the current political climate, with this brought some great moments of comedy. The staging was interesting with full use of depth and breadth of the stage, constantly moving  throughout the space and maintaining visual interest. A full set of believable characterisations were achieved and the cast gelled and worked as a unit throughout the production.

When the curtains open on the production, the set received a humongous applause, which it truly deserved. The set was a fully naturalistic office room at number 10 Downing St, which was diagonally boxed in and had intricate details, such as thrusted walls to house fireplaces, bookcases, full length curtains surrounding a double paned window, and plenty of decor on the walls, it was quite a spectacle and statement indeed. What I loved most was the diagonal structure allowed for 2 entrances to be provided, one upstage, and one downstage right, which were provided through doors of the office. The level of detail that went into this set extended beyond these doors to enrich the production, as additional flats were decorated behind these doors to give the impression of a hallway within the building. Props and costume were equally as detailed and naturalistic and were fitting to the context and character. Lighting and sound were of a good quality, quite simplistic, but embellished the production which did not need anything more than this.

As a general note, the whole cast were extremely skilled and created a complete set of rounded characters who were cohesive and worked as a unit throughout the dialogue and plot, to bring a wonderful piece of drama to the stage.

The Prime Minister, Randolph Bolton, and his understudy, Gerry Jackson, were performed by Paul Armitt.  There were great moments within this performance whereby Gerry’s character slipped through into the pretence of performing Randolph, just as using the wrong hand so write with, and the was a great physical contrast between the two characters greater, with Gerry being more eccentric, I felt this could have been explored further, for example, reembodying Gerry’s mannerisms when alone with those characters who knew he was an impersonator. The fact my creative juices have been allowed to get to this level of exploration of the performance is more a statement of how solid Paul’s work was.

Francis Cowdray was performed by Anne-Marie Flood and was very well played and consistently solid throughout. There was some great urgency and drama created within this role.

Clive Nixon played Dick Marr, who provided a great comedic role. He was very giving with his presence and character. He used nice use of internalisation through his eyes and was very explicit with his though processes.

Nigel Haywood, the Prime Minister’s Secretary, was charmingly played by Simon Bentham, who gave some nice subtleties to his flirtations with Randolph.

Ray Turnball was played by Dean Wallace who provided a great authorities character, almost militant, speaking in facts and unemotively. This really helped drive some of the dynamic shape of the production.

The Prime Minister’s wife, Eva Bolton was played by Carol Buckley who portrayed this character very glamorous. She had a fabulous energy and provided great insight into this character’s though expressive facial and eye work, along side holding her poker face, which added to the suspense.

Colonel Hardacre was played by Nigel Parson who provide great vocal idiosyncrasies of inflections and pauses and was a more calm an collected character, adding great contrast to the other characters and added an element of suspense to the production.

Thanks again to Hall Player, great work and I look forwards to seeing you soon.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.