Losing the Will

This play was written for Salterton Drama Club by the director, Ken Elvy

The curtains opened on the deceased's flat in Holland Park.  All was very dim, the family entered and opened the living room curtains and the scene was flooded with daylight.  Unfortunately a lamp failure meant outside the window was not daylight but darkness.  These things happen and there is often not too much you can do during an evening's performance in a small theatre.  Thankfully no one in the audience seemed to notice.  The set was well designed depicting the miserly old man's residence in a wealthy part of London.  The space above the mantelpiece was dominated by a striking portrait of the deceased gentleman, smirk on his face, cigar in hand, with the hand showing the two-fingered salute.

This play had been written by the director who is also a member of the Salterton Players.  He will probably have had his ideal cast in mind as he wrote it.  I would imagine he was very pleased with the casting.  The play is a gentle comedy.  Every opportunity for a gag was there and the cast set up these gags really well.  It made me think of a Carry on Film, double entendre, outright naughty gags, the audience thoroughly enjoyed it and there was much laughter.  There was a running gag concerning"ownership" of the sofa.  A bag would be placed on said sofa "claiming the space".  The next person would throw the bag off and sit down.  Running gags are good fun but be careful of overdoing it.  

The characters themselves were fun.  Middle-aged Son and Daughter one with a wife and one with a toyboy.  A wonderful opportunity to explore the character of boring husband, domineering wife, man hungry middle aged woman dressed to kill and very self obsessed, and thick toy boy.  On the scene come three other characters.  A solicitor to tell them there is another Will, but no one knows where it is.  This character needed to be pedantic as the stereotypical solicitor but this did slow the pace just a tad.  Also the Playhouse has a small auditorium but when there is a full audience sound can be absorbed and it is necessary to make allowances for this and allow the voice to carry a little more. This was though an excellent interpretation of the character.  The next on the scene was the neighbour from downstairs, complete with walking frame.  It is enough to say that this actor made just one entrance in each act and at each exit received a round of applause.  The timing of the lines was like a masterclass, a lifetime's experience of theatre reaping a dividend.  The next was the big surprise, Daisy, originally the cleaning woman but at age 23 and looking quite gorgeous had somehow become engaged to marry the old man.  If he had died just a day later she would have been his wife!  A lovely twist at the end of the second act, suffice to say that Daisy and Buff the toy boy are brother and sister and had been cooking a plot to swindle the old man.   

The cast understood their characters and the relationships between them worked well.    Accents were used effectively and mostly voices were clear and carried sufficiently to enable the audience to follow the story with ease.  The set worked well and good use was made of the space on stage.  Lighting was simple as Act 2 follows on from Act 1 as the same scene.  Costumes were fairly subdued with the exception of the toy boy who was most casually dressed and the man-hungry woman who was very flamboyantly clad, mutton dressed as lamb!

This play was very much enjoyed by the audience who left the Playhouse having had an evening of laughter.  It is good to have a variety of plays throughout the year and it is to be hoped that the audience will be equally ready to support the Drama Club when they are presenting a play of a much more serious nature.

Congratulation Salterton Drama Club for successfully presenting a new play to a happy audience.

 

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