Don't Dress for Dinner

Don’t Dress for Dinner a play, staged by Mawdesley Amateur Dramatic Society at Mawdesley Village Hall, Hurst Green, Mawdesley on Thursday, 19th May, 2022

Penned by Marc Camoletti and Robin Hawdon ‘Don’t dress for Dinner’, centres around Bernard and Jacqueline, a not-so-happily married couple, both of whom are having extramarital affairs. As Jacqueline prepares to go out of town to visit her mother, Bernard invites his mistress and Robert, his best friend (and also Jacqueline’s lover, unbeknownst to Bernard), over for the weekend. He’s even hired a Cordon Bleu chef to cater the evening. Jacqueline discovers Robert is coming to town and cancels her trip, causing Bernard to panic. When Robert arrives, Bernard asks him to pretend Suzanne is his mistress. Robert mistakes the chef (Suzette), for Bernard’s mistress (Suzanne), producing a highly complicated dinner of hilarious hijinks, secret trysts, would-be adultery and slapstick comedy.  a comedy of mistaken identity. Confused you will be….

My first visit to Hurst Green since the 15th June, 2019 when I saw Mawdesley ADS stage ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ a great play that saw Chris Hill, our first time Director tonight, win Best Supporting Male in a Drama for his portrayal of Sir Wilfred Robarts. This being a farce, timing and storytelling is vitally important, which it was! The actors looked well-rehearsed and I particularly liked the physical comedy moments… well done Chris, be ever so proud!

The curtains opened onto one of the best, if not the best set, I have seen since lockdown! Obviously, purpose built to make use of every inch of the Village Hall stage, it was lavish, very well designed and afforded the cast all the space to perform with confidence.  I loved the use of multiple entrances and exits, including a working set of stairs, which were used constantly throughout the production.  We had ‘The Cowshed’ and ‘The Piggery’ as bedrooms, again used throughout… congrats to Tony McAughey for his vision and constructional ability.

The Cast… all six cast members, two of whom were making their stage debuts, worked really well together and as soon as the curtain opened, you could just tell they were more than ready to perform!  It is difficult to start saying ‘someone is better than someone else’ when you just know that everyone on stage had given of their best… BUT, never being one to ‘sit on the fence’… the ‘Show Stealer’ for me had to be Ethan Banks, one of the two making his stage debut and who took on the role of ‘Robert’. For someone who had not been on stage before his ‘stage presence’ was amazing!  Confident, great characterisation, interacted with the other cast members with ease.  Ethan had ‘two’ long speeches/statements where he describes situations and gave information, which were delivered with pace and clarity both receiving rapturous applause from the audience.  Be ever so proud Ethan, wonderful job young man!   Adrian Barradell took on the role of ‘Bernard’ the ‘husband’ of Jaqueline; ‘lover’ to Suzanne; friend of ‘Robert’; who hired Suzette to cook dinner for his guests… sounds complicated it was, but it did get worse!  Adrian was another with great stage presence and provided us with a great character in Bernard! Loved the facial expressions and the mannerisms… be ever so proud sir!  Olivia Lloyd took on the role of ‘Jacqueline’… wife of Bernard, mistress to Robert… another with great stage presence, great characterisation, worked really well with the other cast members… well done Olivia, great job!  Debbie Wells took on the role of ‘Suzette’ our ‘money making’, ‘cordon bleu chef’ hired by ‘Bernard’ to cook for his ‘guests’ whilst his wife was supposedly away. ‘Suzette’ makes lots and lots of ‘200 francs’ for doing many things other than cook… like being a cousin, an actress, a mistress - oh yes and she really is a wife to ‘George’… confusing I know!  Confident, great stage presence, interacted well with the cast…. loved the slick ‘costume transformation’ for want of a better phrase… with Bernard and Robert…from ‘Chef to Dinner Guest’… made to look easy, but I bet it wasn’t!  Well done, great job!  Libbie Cowburn took on the role of ‘Susanne’, mistress to Bernard, model, stand in cordon blue chef… takes a fancy to Robert with whom she ends up with… again confusing I know!  Another with great stage presence, confident, looked the part and worked well with the other cast members… be proud Libbie, great job!  Finally, our second actor making his stage debut…Allan Row who took on the role of ‘George’.  We only get to meet George at the end of act two… ‘big fella’… husband to ‘Suzette’.  Cameo role, but one that he made his own and looked totally comfortable with!  Allan… the first step is always the biggest…well done, sir!

Stage Management…looking after all things stage wise was Finlay Robertson (Stage Manager) and his crew… Emma Smallshaw, Jo Jenkinson, Jane Tingle, Jeanette Robertson and Lorraine Ryan.  Lighting which was minimal but used to great effect was under the watchful eye of Paul Taylor and his assistant Paul Lenehan. Sound… the use of five overhead hanging mikes across the stage being used… plus a variety of sound effects to create happenings was in the hands of … Matthew Hutcheon, Mark Travis and Evan Evans… well done to each and all… great job folks!  Props… the ‘props’ were excellent…apt, appropriate and enhanced the production so much… congrats to Jo Jenkinson, Jane Tingle and Anne Green.  Costumes which were also excellent. Provided by the cast and under the watchful eye of Lorraine Ryan… well done you!

Theatre is back, Mawdesley are back… thank you for inviting my wife and I and thanks to Hilda McAughey for looking after us so well throughout.  Really did enjoy the play and already looking forward to seeing you all again soon!

Stay safe and keep well…

Jim Briscoe
NODA NW
District 6 Rep

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