It Runs In The Family

Ray has written many plays after joining up with Brian Rix, another great comedy writer, and both are now masters of the art of Farce.  It has to be slick, fast paced but with incredible timing.  This one certainly didn’t disappoint and had nailed all of those elements perfectly. It was Director, Neill’s first time of directing, this play being one he knew well as he had performed it several years ago.  Farce is a difficult theatrical challenge to stage and one he achieved extremely well. The simple set  was effectively designed to be suitable to withstand all the coming and goings through the many doors and windows and this box set certainly stood up to the challenge as hospital beds and wheel chairs careered through the doors with not so much as a wobble.  He had put together a very talented and impressive cast who all brought out the best of the comedy with brilliant timing and maintained the tempo with the vast amounts of difficult and confusing dialogue without hesitation.

Henry Tebbutt was Dr David Mortimore with Grant Filshill as Dr Hubert Bonney and they both captured their characters perfectly as the lies and deception get tangled up with the truth, leaving all the cast completely confused. Chris Perry was the third Doctor, Dr Mike Connolly, who rushes around trying to help Dr Mortimore to get out of some embarrassing situations, only to get even deeper into the confusion. Samantha Harvey was Dr Mortimore’s wife and Sal Fulcher his mistress of long ago with Amelie Dineen his spicy illegitimate daughter.  They were all excellent in their characterisation, as were Steve Parks as Sir Willoughby Drake and Simon Dodwell as the Police Sergeant.  There were also some lovely comedy performances from the supporting actors. Well done to all the cast for putting in the work to making this a polished and professional production.

Pace and timing was maintained throughout and with some nice personal touches. I really liked how the large picture window with curtains at the back of the stage were used hiding or showing much of the activity going on outside the window.  I also particularly like the frozen tableau at the end of Act 1 which was then replicated at the start of Act 2, very effective! The costumes all looked very good, with the nursing staff very smart in their uniforms. The sound and lighting also needed to be slick to uphold timing and was perfectly executed.  

Well done to Neill and all his cast and crew on giving us and his extremely appreciative large audience such an amusing and enjoyable evening. One of the best comedies I have seen in a long time. Thank you for your kind hospitality, as always, very much appreciated.

Catherine Dixey. NODA East Representative District E12

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