Four Weddings and an Elvis

This was a very interesting production: essentially, four one act plays linked together, all taking place in Sandy’s Chapel of Love in Las Vegas and with an interesting crossover of different characters, taking a comical look at the world of love, relationships and marriage in their many and varied forms. This was a lightly humorous enterprise which gave the performers a chance to shine as a number of larger than life characters in what was a very engaging evening’s entertainment. 

The curtain opened to reveal the interior of Sandy’s Las Vegas wedding chapel, lovingly created by Andrew Batt and members of the society to great effect: a lovely well dressed playing area which at once set just the right tone. Erinn Bâtard fizzed on stage all evening as Sandy, knitting all the scenes together in fine style. Her comically world-weary take on the glorious institution of marriage was was more than borne out by the eccentric visitors to her emporium over the course of the evening! The first pair of hopeless ‘romantics’ through the door, Bev and Stan, were the dictionary definition of a couple ‘getting married for the wrong reason’: namely, just to get one over on the ex. Rachel Bamford twinkled as bouncy Bev (great hair too!) and Steve Jackson was a pushy pain as dozy Steve - both hitting all the right notes as the misfiring couple. An ‘Elvis Wedding’ was of course de rigueur given our Vegas location, Stan and Bev being lucky enough to secure the services of Elvis impersonator John for the ceremony. Ryan Baron gave us an Elvis with a few nice touches: mild mannered and frustrated in his everyday appearance, the ‘Elvis confidence’ only kicking in when the sunglasses were applied whereupon John transformed into a clockwork version of the singing preacher, spouting Presley-flavoured banalities throughout the ceremony - spot on. True to form, the wedding is cancelled at the last minute as Steve’s true affections are uncovered and the tone is set for the rest of the evening’s comically calamitous carryings-on.

The next scene offered the twin delights of Andrew Yates as Lou, a rather long in the tooth would-be applicant for the post of wedding-Elvis and a pair of daffy TV stars of yesteryear. Andrew invested his role with a good deal of cheery good ol’ boy charm which worked well when placed opposite the next vainglorious duo to visit the wedding chapel, faded starlets Vanessa and Bryce. Hoping to cash in on a ‘celebrity’ wedding to revive their fading fortunes, Michelle Arthur and Paddy McDonough camped it up gloriously as our nitwitted showbiz has-beens. Aiming to get maximum publicity from their forthcoming nuptials, Vanessa and Bryce decide to change tack when it transpires that nobody has the foggiest who they are and in any case - despite his best efforts to keep it a secret - the whole world already knows that Bryce is gay. Michelle looked resplendent in a spot-on chi-chi outfit which suited the character perfectly, and Paddy’s legs received an extended airing on stage after a particularly chucklesome wardrobe incident (a delightful set of pins just crying out for a NODA award category of their own). With another disastrous pairing narrowly avoided, Sandy once again triumphed in sorting out the terrible showbiz twosome in her own inimitable style.

The next scene brought with it lighthearted drama, along with the evening’s most mismatched couple in the shape of Marvin and Fiona. John Dewhurst excelled as the deeply tedious Marvin, a postal worker with a fund of wearisome mail-related facts and statistics at his fingertips. Perfectly portrayed as the type of one-note boor you’d hate to be trapped in a lift with, John set the audience up nicely for the arrival of his ‘chalk and cheese’ bride-to-be, ex-con Fiona, the kind of foul mouthed floozie whom one could imagine ruling her corner of the state penitentiary with a rod of iron. Wonderfully brought to life by Lena Duffy, Fiona was another pin sharp characterisation and her romance with Marvin was a comic treat. Matters are complicated however when Fiona’s ex (the delightfully monikered ‘Fist’) breaks out of prison to disrupt the wedding ceremony. Chris Knight gave perhaps the strongest performance of the evening for me as the fearsome Fist, perfectly pitching his performance between the necessity to present a physically threatening presence while at the same time, keeping things light and humorous. The whole can of worms was sorted out in a typically whimsical fashion, making this scene in particular one of the highlights of the show as a result. 

The final scene brings together the entire cast a year later and we see what has happened to our motley crew of mismatched lovebirds, the occasion being Sandy’s wedding (her fourth? Fifth? Or is it her sixth, or seventh...?!) The whole thing wrapped itself up via a series of further revelations and comical carryings-on and provided a suitable finale for the piece which was wholly in keeping with the tone of the evening’s entertainment. The entire cast are to be congratulated for really throwing themselves heart and soul into the enterprise and for providing a warm and humorous evening’s entertainment. Director Catherine Allan had clearly inspired her cast to give of their best and with the talented Erin Bâtard acting as the thread which linked all the scenes together, the whole ensemble worked together very well to pull off a top notch evening in the theatre.

Technically speaking, the show was also first rate: as already mentioned, the set was a perfectly crafted playing space; there were no sound issues, with crisp clear diction throughout (and hardly any wobbly accents!) making sure we didn’t miss a word of the dialogue; costumes were first rate across the board, suiting each character perfectly and managing also to suggest a flavour of the period in question; lighting was sympathetic and nuanced (the unfortunate tendency for the lights to bleed onto the Las Vegas projection at the rear of the stage aside - buts that’s an inescapable occupational hazard); the music used between scenes was well chosen and provided a nice little extra touch too. I did think on occasion, the musical interludes went on a bit - but that could be because I’d happily walk barefoot over broken glass rather than listen to any more Elvis Presley than I had to! The cleverly interpolated projections of the married-off pairs at the end of the show was an unexpected bonus and offered at least one humorous surprise too...

This was a cheerful little play which had a few interesting things to say for itself hidden beneath the lighthearted sheen of comedy: it was also a treat to attend an amateur performance of a comedy which wasn’t a creaking knockabout farce or yet another deadening TV sit-com adaptation: just a friendly hint there District 3 societies... My thanks go to Oswaldtwistle Players for an engaging evening of live entertainment- keep up the good work!

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