Harvey

 

Harvey, by Mary Chase.

Producer  Helen Rasmussen

 

Performed at Maldon Town Hall on Thursday 18th April 2024, at 7.45pm

 

I was warmly welcomed on arrival by Linda Adair at Front of House and met with Producer Helen Rasmussen at the end of the performance. This was my first visit to this society, which is not in my District and I was impressed both by the friendly atmosphere and by the venue in the Town Hall which had a good stage area.

The attractive set, with double doors centre back, was designed and constructed by the society and alternated between the library of the Dowd family home and the Chumley’s Rest sanatorium. A lot of props were used throughout which were moved on and off stage as needed. Well done to Stage Manager Gill Peregrine for making sure that all props were on stage when appropriate. Lighting and sound worked well although the position of the 4 microphones on the floor in front of the stage meant that the actors had to project their voices really well. Period appropriate costumes were mostly provided by the society with a few sourced externally.

This play was  thought provoking and showcased the acting talents of the cast. Characterisation was very good with American accents throughout and there were some stellar performances. Scott Peters, as Elwood P Dowd played this eccentric but engaging and pleasant character whose friend was Harvey, an invisible six feet tall white rabbit. Charming and with an eye for the ladies Scott played this main role really well. Carey Brown, as his sister Vita Louise Simmons was  a perfect choice for this aspiring social climber role, neurotic with a tendency to cause humour and confusion and her ”tantrums” on stage were a joy to watch. Heather Sims played her daughter, Myrtle Mae Simmons and captured the truculent attitude of this character well, totally bored with attending her mother’s  social gatherings. I enjoyed watching Stephanie Ireland, as the prim family friend and socialite Mrs Ethel Chauvenet.

To the sanatorium where Holly Stanhope played the nurse, Ruth Kelly with just the right amount of deference to her two medical colleagues. The younger of these, the handsome Dr Lyman Sanderson, was well played by Jonathan Daws  who appeared to really enjoy this role. The sanatorium was owned by the Chumleys, with Dr William R Chumley well played by Neil Smith. Neil was arrogant and officious as befitted the role. His rather flighty and shallow wife, Betty, was played by Michelle Edgington, as a rather bored character only interested in social activity. Alan Ireland, a family friend was a very confused Judge Omar Gaffney which he portrayed very convincingly.

Chris Pond had a lovely role as Duane Wilson the sanatorium orderly and Ian McDonald was the cheeky cab driver E J Lofgren whilst an image of Harvey made a grand entrance at the end.

Congratulations to all the cast and crew for rising to the challenge of this interesting production and special congratulations to Producer Helen Rasmussen for her vision in bringing this production to stage.

I enjoyed this immensely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hazel Hole MBE , on behalf of Vickie Carey, District 8 Representative

Regional Representative

NODA East

District 11

 

NODA owns the intellectual Property Rights to the content of all show reports written by NODA Councillors, Reps and Assistant Reps 

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.