Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now

Is death the end? In this award nominated play, Andy is about to find out and he is beginning to wish that it was.  When he discovers his number is up, he finds the afterlife is not exactly fluffy clouds, harps and Saint Peter.  There are three dead wives all ‘chomping at the bit’ to see him again, but none of them are quite how he remembers.  With Jesus and Hitler dishing out advice, Andy might make the right decision and be happy for eternity.

I must admit this was a very unusual play especially when you are talking about Jesus and Hitler in the same breath never mind living in the same house, so I was a little worried when I heard the synopsis and read the list of characters in this play, however I need not have worried as this was a funny enjoyable production and I did not find it at all offensive. Director Elspeth Fisher had both experienced and inexperienced actors in the cast, some of whom were making their first appearance in a named role of a play. The cast included Graham Wareing as Andy Reardon, who had a lovely natural presence on stage mixed with good comic timing and excellent facial expressions, he was very competent in this central demanding role. Well done to Sarah Henshaw who played two very different characters Eva and Emma, Sarah performed the role of Eva the Collector at very short notice due to illness stepping into the breech admirably, she also played the part of Emma with a reasonable American accent. Matthew Swinnerton was very busy playing three roles they were Errol, Roger the Chicken (a nice comedy moment) and young Andy, he threw himself into all three roles with gusto producing three very different characters. In heaven’s waiting room Andy meets two people, Ann who was played by Nicci Loughead, the anger and frustration her character felt at the situation she found herself in came over well and John Grindle as Todd did not say much but still managed to be part of the action, but when he did give a Speech about death his delivery was very good. Hellen Nathan as Ms. Force the gatekeeper for heaven and hell gave an excellent performance in this part with very good comic timing, clear diction and projection. We first meet Jesus and Hitler who are sharing a house in heaven, Matt. Martin as a brattish Jesus and Simon Henderson as Hitler made a very enjoyable comedy duo, complementing each other admirable, both producing very interesting characterizations which were not as expected, Simon also produced a quite respectable German accent. Andy’s first wife Mandy played by Helen Smith did very well portraying Mandy’s two opposite characters and showed great promise for the future. Simon James as Vicky Andy’s second wife whose appearance confused the audience at first, gave a believable and amusing performance of a complex character who had decided to project herself as male in heaven. Andy’s third wife Kerry was played nicely with understanding by Sarah Shearer who grew into her role and also showed great promise for the future.

Just some constructive points, the pace of the play did slow a little on occasions, probably due to prompts taken by some members of cast and some of the characters spoke a little fast which affected diction and clarity of words, also when wearing a hat on stage be careful the hat does not cover the face as the audience will not be able to see your facial expressions.  However, this was a very brave choice of play which worked very well, all the actors worked as a team and appeared to be enjoying themselves very much performing in this unusual production and there was a very good response from the audience which is the main objective of any production

There were two dance interludes which were performed well by the dancers with good choreography by Sarah Henshaw. I am not sure if this was part of the play or a convenient fill in while the stage crew were changing scenes, however the audience appeared to enjoy the dancing.
Scenery was minimalistic, so the stage  and scenes were set by excellent use of props and pieces of furniture which worked very well. I believe there had been some problems with the lighting facility in the venue so well done to the technical crew for coping with these problems. Costumes were just right for the production especially when the action went back to the 1960’s, they enhanced the production and the characters.

Congratulations to Director Elspeth Fisher and to all involved in bringing this funny entertaining production to the stage. Thank you for inviting us and looking after us so well, with had a very interesting enjoyable evening. Hope to see you for your next production.                               

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