Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

This show is adapted from the 1988 film which starred Steve Martin and Michael Caine and music was added for a 2004 production.  It tells the story of a suave, smooth and womanising English conman, Lawrence Jameson, who finds that his space on the French Riviera is being invaded by another con artist, not so smooth Freddy Benson.  Jameson masquerades as an exiled Prince and a shrink and is aided and abetted by Andre Thibault, the local Chief of Police.

Christine Colgate, an American Soap Queen, arrives on the scene towards the end of the first half and turns out to be another scoundrel.

Brian Hossack played Lawrence in a laid back manner but I really would have liked to see a bit more of a twinkle in his eye to capture the imagination.  The rather grotesque but quite likeable Freddy was performed by Richard Gorton and he had most of the laughs in the show.  I was a bit uneasy with his efforts to get into a wheelchair late in the show and maybe this could have been handled differently.

Claire Cooper was efficient as the Soap Queen who both men fancy and Mandy Pearson gave her usual professional performance, this time as Muriel Eubanks, one of Lawrence’s lovelorn victims.  However she finds some solace in her relationship with Andre who was extremely well performed by James Last.  Their Like Zis/Like Zat was really good and was, for me, one of the stronger numbers in the show.

Georgia Kingston played Jolene Oakes, who is hoping to marry Lawrence, like an Oklahoma whirlwind, and spoke almost as quickly, and she was off almost as soon as she was on having performed a good hoe-down routine with the other dancers.

There seemed to be a fair amount of work for the chorus and the cast generally sang well accompanied by an 8 piece band, although at times there were some tuning issues which was a shame.

Overall I thought that the production lacked pace which would have been helped by some speedier picking up of cues.

The choreography worked well, the scenery, lighting and costumes were bright and suitable.

I think it is good that this society takes on new challenges at the Memorial Hall and I believe that, judging by the good reception given by the audience, they thought so as well.

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