Laying The Ghost

Laying The Ghost

This is a fast-moving comedy set in a retirement home for a group of eccentric thespians,
ex-actress Margot Buchanan played by Irene Thorpe and her psychic friend Freda Deacon played by Jenny Cooper, make such a great pairing that guided the audience through the ups and downs and created lots of laughs along the way. Irene played a great Margot with her honesty and pragmatic approach to life. Jenny as Freda is constantly having to deal with the business of the afterlife community that is forever growing in the retirement home. However later her skills, provided even more laughs as she deals with the new demands put upon her. This cannot have been an easy role to portray, and congratulations must go to Jenny for providing such a key performance and maintaining her character throughout. 

On Margot’s 70th birthday she receives an array of guests that she is not particularly bothered about seeing. These include Leo Buchanan played by David Jones, again another great performance. Later in the play Leo suffers a heart attack which proves fatal, Davids portrayal as he is stood over his own body, was one of my favourite scenes as he delivered many laughs as he questioned what was happening through his new interpreter Freda as he had now passed over to the afterlife and Freda was not overjoyed to have a new person inside her head. This scene was very much also enjoyed by the audience.

Every retirement home needs its manager and Karen Gregson as Mrs Kidd provided a good, honest and matron like performance throughout. Sue Orme as Lady Buchanan, Leo’s current wife, delivered her part well and provided another angle that delivered some further giggles linking in with Sadie played by Nikola Smith, who again added a further dimension as a young aspiring actress who is also romantically involved with Sir Leo, again played well and keeping the audience’s attention throughout.

It would be wrong of me not to mention the final two players in the cast Martin Weston as Superman and Orderly 2 and Phil Gregson as Orderly 1, and although only on for a short period of time they added to the complexity of a well delivered performance, by a talented group of actors.

I also must commend Linda Cheshire and David Jones on the set and staging and the great work their teams produced. I was extremely impressed by the level of detail and design which provided an accurate depiction for all involved. To deliver such professional stagging helps those on and off the stage to quickly become captivated in a great performance.

Many congratulations to all involved and I look forward to seeing your next production ‘Kindly Leave the Stage’ in November.

 

© NODA CIO.  All rights reserved.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.