Dirty Dusting
Information
- Date
- 10th May 2024
- Society
- Blyth Players
- Venue
- Barnby Memorial Hall
- Type of Production
- Play
- Director
- Barry Pickwell and Jon Hughes
- Written By
- Ed Waugh and Trevor Wood
It felt like forever since I had been to Blyth to see the Blyth Players at the Barnby Memorial Hall with Covid very much getting in the way of productions, so I was delighted to return to see the ever entertaining team in “straight play mode” with Dirty Dusting rather than pantomime (which are also always very entertaining).
I was also delighted to see when I opened the programme that the production this week was in the very safe hands of Barry Pickwell and Jon Hughes so I was sure that I was in for a great night of entertainment. This expectation was very quickly confirmed with the comic timing of the small talented cast giving me laugh out loud moments from the start of Act One.
Dirty Dusting itself is a very well crafted play that is ideal for a primarily female cast with the comedy centred on what happens to three cleaners who suddenly realise that they are about to have their jobs outsourced to a managed service provider and need to find alternative sources of income. They naturally turn to creating an adult chat line using the phone system of the office where they clean
Now, you may not think that this is a normal change of career direction but the writers do manage to make you suspend disbelief and it is the directing team and actors who really need to bring their audience along with this change and here the Blyth team smashed it out of the park.
Turning first to the three leading ladies Sharon Hughes, Debs Pickwell and Judith Earle. They always manged individually, and as a team, to bring great comic timing and warmth to their characters with the humour based very much in making the absurd situations they manovered themselves into seem perfectly logical. Their droll sense of humour and experience of life accentuated how sad the people are who use these services and also how imagination can transform reality without being preachy in any way.. Sharon, Debs and Judith all infused their characters with great sympathy and had me snorting into my beer on many many occasions, a sheer joy.
George Earle had the hard job of playing Dave Smith the antagonist of the piece being the office manager responsible for firing the three cleaners and apparently only thinking about how he could get promoted onto the next rung of the managerial ladder. Dave managed to ensure we had no sympathy for him at any point in the play and he was suitably rewarded by the laughter at the end of the show when his fascination with the suck provided by vacuum cleaners while on chat lines was revealed and was his downfall.
The direction was tight in all scenes with the work done by Barry and Jon in the rehearsal room clear from the first minute to the song and dance finale. As always the set, lighting and sound all added to the production and this was the first time I had “seen” microphones used to enhance the projection of the actors voices.
Congratulations all and thanks again for the entertainment and warm welcome and I look forward to my next visit to see you again.
© NODA CIO. All rights reserved
© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.