Lucky Me!

“Lucky Me” is the 14th production from Bonkers Theatrical and is a play written by Robert Caisley. I think I would describe the play as a romantic comedy with a great deal of drama.

“Lucky Me” has been carefully directed by Mark Walker, the play is a difficult piece, having only four characters in it. The play begins quite slowly but picks up pace during act 1, like a simmering cauldron that erupts with moments of dramatic and sexual tension between the characters. Well done Mark for creating a piece full of atmosphere that is sustained from the beginning to the end.

Congratulations to all four actors who appear in “Lucky Me”. The play is relentlessly wordy, demanding great concentration from its performers. All four created well-defined characters that were sustained throughout the performance. They all had very good accents which were also well-sustained.

Alex Underwood plays Sara, a very pessimistic woman who has endured twenty two years of bad luck as her ex partners seem always to befall accidents and the last, her husband, died! A very strong performance indeed from Alex and I was particularly impressed with her scene in act 2 when she was alone on the sofa, talking on her mobile, a great soliloquy!

David Wicks was excellent in the role of Leo, Sara’s father. Leo is a cantankerous, bitter, rude and selfish old man. The character, Leo, is blind and David was very convincing in his portrayal of a blind man, and had great interaction with the other performers too.

Another excellent performance came from Alan Galway as Tom. Tom is a hapless, slow-witted, love-sick man who spends the duration of the play trying to woo Sara and is constantly at loggerheads with her father. A very controlled and sustained performance from Alan, well done!

Yuri was the final character in the quartet of performers and was brilliantly played by Kev Aitkin. Yuri is the Ukrainian landlord who pops up in act 2 just in time to add some well-needed comic relief. The scene when Yuri turns to Tom and says “do you want to see my b******s? was absolutely hilarious! A well-sustained performance from Kev.

The set, provided by Eric St John was simple but very effective. It was well-dressed with good attention to detail; it even had a working and well-stocked fridge! The props and costumes were all good and appropriate. The lighting was used to good effect throughout with good use of blackouts to cover scene changes. The use of incidental music to cover scene changes was excellent.

This was an excellent opening night with no obvious problems. Congratulations to all the company of Bonkers Theatrical on what was a very enjoyable evening.

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