Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels based on the 1988 film of the same name perhaps lacks the toe-tapping rhythms and hum-on-the-way-home tunes evident in many previous SAMS productions, but it does offer a huge scope for quality male and female principals.  Tonight, Lawrence Jamieson (Craig Rose) excelled as the “resident Scoundrel”. Craig was joined by two further conmen, Freddy Benson (Colin Sutherland) and Andre Thibault (Andrew Kyle), both of whom formed excellent characterisations in their bid to extort money from rich woman in this farce set in the French Riviera.

A trio of ladies became the fall-girls for the afore-mentioned scoundrels.   Muriel Eubanks (Jane Campbell) gave a fine performance, especially in “Like Zis / Like Zat” with Andre. The parts of Christine Colgate and Jolene Oakes were double cast and on the night I attended Christine was played by Rachel Nee.   As the American heiress who becomes the ultimate target for the Scoundrels, Rachel provided a stunning performance – don’t believe any of the “butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth” implications! As Jolene, Kendra Rough portrayed the Oklahoma girl who attempts to get Lawrence to marry her.  Kendra’s character truly came to life in “All About Ruprecht”.   The rather male-light ensemble comprising 4 men and 16 ladies,  coped well not only with their sung numbers but also the busy choreography devised for this production by Donna Reilly.  The orchestra, set on a rostrum upstage, was excellent. Under the baton of Lynn Smith, they took us through the show at a fair old pace.

Technically, however, this show could have been improved.   Sound featured a huge number of missed entries, and lighting was, in many cases, leaving the cast in darkness, and also demonstrated some rather careless live moves – always a problem when using moving lights, but one which can easily be solved with a bit of thought.  I would urge Director Kris Mordente to pay attention to the technical side of the production just as much as he does to the direction of the cast, and this would raise the standard of the Production immeasurably.  Also, if a show MUST use follow spots, please put these in the hands of experienced operators, who would not come off an actor by lifting the beam to the flys!

Costumes, on the other hand, were spectacular and perfectly in keeping with the location and period of the piece! 

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