Dirty Dusting

With a cast of only 4 the Hall Players had their work cut out to keep a good pace in this very funny, rude and somewhat crude farcical comedy, full of double entendres. However, they rose to the challenge wonderfully and had their almost capacity audience laughing out loud throughout the production. So, mission accomplished! 

With no indication of time period, I am assuming from the set, that the play is set in the 70s. The set, which is static throughout the play, is an office, with 3 desks and 3 phones and lots of appropriate set dressing, files, calendars, brochures etc. The set was excellent with lots of appropriate ‘set dressing’. It worked well and was well used by the entire cast and fully deserved the round of applause it received when the curtains opened. 

Dirty Dusting tells the story of 3 cleaning ladies, about to be made redundant by their manager who intends to bring in a firm of contract cleaners, he says to save money, but one cannot help think that  it has more to do with the fact that he believes he will get the respect he feels he deserves from new and younger staff. The ladies have worked for the firm for many years and as they are all septuagenarians their chance of alternative employment is very low. Following a wrong number phone call the ladies decide to open a telephone sex line over their last weekend at work to make some extra money.

The cast of 3 elderly ladies, Jill Thompson as Gladys, Maureen Nickson as Elsie and Carol Buckley as Olive worked really well together, although playing septuagenarians, they all looked ‘right’ although I did feel they looked just a little too glamourous for the roles they were playing,  they certainly struck a blow for older workers. The final member of the cast was Dave, the manager, played by Frank Duxberry.  I did find his exaggerated arm movements quite distracting at the beginning, but he really shone in his latter appearances.

Led by Olive (a former Guide Leader) they open the telephone sex line.  The resulting “chats” were hysterical and generally well delivered, although do be careful not to drop your voices too much, I did struggle a couple of times to hear all the words. 

Costumes throughout were good and looked appropriate. Pace is SO important in any kind of farcical production, and generally it was good, however, it did appear to be a little ‘sticky’ at the very beginning – although, as I attended on opening night, I feel sure that was the reason, as all lines appeared secure. Do take care too with cups, which were obviously empty. 

 All in all it was a good evening of ‘laugh out loud’ (if more than a little bawdy) moments but the audience certainly appeared to enjoy it, so well done to all concerned. 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.