Kindly Leave The Stage
Information
- Date
- 23rd November 2024
- Society
- Marlowe Players
- Venue
- Darley Abbey Village Hall
- Type of Production
- Play
- Director
- Chris Davies
- Written By
- John Chapman
This was my first experience of both “Kindly Leave the Stage” and also The Marlowe Players and I have to say that the combination of players and play resulted in a very enjoyable night at the Darley Abbey Village Hall.
Kindly Leave the Stage is a classic British comedy “Play-within a Play” with clear influences from both Noises Off and Abigails Party and starts with a typical 1980s dinner party transported to the 2020s with two of the first characters on stage playing a couple hosting a dinner party for close friends while bickering and heading for divorce.
The fourth wall is broken suddenly as the male lead (Rupert) veers off script to reveal there has been some actual extra-marital activity in the dressing rooms between the four leading actors in the gap between the matinee and the evening performances, and after this, any attempt to continue with the play as published fall apart which drives the comedic content for the rest of the night.
The play relies on believable ensemble performances from the whole cast of eight characters who must NOT fall into the trap of overacting and playing for laughs which ensures that the humour is allowed to come out from the acid sarcasm in the dialogue and set piece scenes that become ever more farcical. I’m again happy to say that the whole cast, clearly under expert direction from Chris Davies, did exactly that.
Gary Peake, playing Rupert, brought just the right energy and ever-increasing pent-up fury as he learns of Madge, his fellow actor and real-life wife’s infidelity with the actor playing Charles (Martin Weston). Although I’m new to the Marlowe Players, I have worked on-stage with Gary on many occasions in the past including at the RSC’s Swan Theatre in The Pocket Dream, and it was great to see him in great form here tonight. Suzi Illston managed to make her two roles very distinct, on stage a relatively unassuming solicitor’s wife and offstage a woman trying to have a passionate affair with her co-star “Charles”.
Martin Weston was completely believable as both Charles the nervous solicitor and as an actor, in fear of his life from a cheated husband who has just discovered the truth, has a knife and murderous intent. Martin’s acting from inside a box was particularly impressive coupled with some nice understated reacting to the advances of Suzi and violent head slapping from Gary. Claire Wade shone as both Sarah the frustrated wife of Rupert and also in her offstage persona as she made public her passionate attraction to the actor playing him. Claire’s combination of acid laced sarcastic line delivery coupled with great physical acting was a highlight of the evening for myself and many audience members alike judging by the sharp intakes of breath around me as she made her feelings known..
Wendy Beric delivered a very assured performance as both Mrs C and the actress playing her making them very distinct characters helping to telegraph when we were watching the play as written and when we were frequently off-piste.. Martin lllston made Edward Frobisher, the dramatic actor in the twilight of his career losing his memory and talents to the battle his battle with Alcohol a Tour-de-Force. Having myself had to deliver a performance that included several transitions into classic Shakespeare monologues and a snap back out of them, I was impressed that Martin managed to accomplish this so many times throughout the night. Julie Campbell and Rhianne Cutts delivered smaller but by no means insignificant performances as The St John ambulance nurse providing support to Edward and the Assistant Stage Manager regularly interceding on-stage to try and recover the runaway-train of a performance.
The Staging was classic single sitting room set and simple and effective lighting, costuming was again very effective being appropriate for each characters personality. So all-in-all a very enjoyable night at the Theatre, there were a few stutters at the start of Act 2 but these were soon behind us as the pace of the production grew and grew to the inevitable climax in the all-out brawl on stage.
Congratulations all and keep on delivering great community theatre in Derby!
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