Lucky Stiff

“Lucky Stiff” is a show that I had not previously seen so opening night was new musical territory for me. This musical farce is based on the novel “The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo”.  As with all farces the story was convoluted and somewhat bizarre. The somewhat outlandish story (involving a shoe salesman passing a corpse off as a living person in order to obtain an inheritance) gets ever more convoluted as it goes on with a great many twists and turns.

A deceptively simple set, designed by Suzanne Emerson, consisted of three large panels which rotated to depict a shoe shop, train, a hotel room, a casino and various other locations which worked well.  The cast, between dashing about changing costume, at times became part of the stage crew.  It was all managed very slickly.  Well done sourcing props Ali Hall several of which were essential to the plot.  The lighting design (Alexander Hoppe) was good although there did appear to be dark patches at the extreme left and right of the stage which, a couple of times, resulted in actors speaking from the darkness. Costumes (Liz Milway assisted by Suze Oldfield) were good and suited to the 1980s period.  Some very neat choreography from Frances Sayer was nicely executed. The sound design (Nick Hall) contained some excellent and well cued sound effects.

Musically, the show was first rate.  The show is more or less sung through and although unfamiliar to me, the music is very appealing.  Musical Director James Harvey (Conductor & Keys 1) and the other four Band members were on stage partly visible behind the rotating panels. Once or twice a piece was overly loud but they were excellent. In fact, rather than rush out, the audience were quite happy to sit and listen to them play for several minutes after cast bows. 

A show such as this cannot afford to have a weak link and Director Matt Wilkinson had lined up a great cast with not a weak link among them. Pace is all and pace here was almost frenetic!  You should never have to try to force the laughs with farce, by playing the material “straight” the laughs come naturally and this team got it just right. 

Many of the company were playing a number of roles each, and often appearing seconds later in a different guise. It must have been manic backstage.  Farces demand good ensemble playing with everyone working as a team to ensure the smooth running of the piece. With such a uniformly good cast it seems unfair to single anyone out therefore congratulations to Abigail Mann, Frances Watson, Jonatan Rosten and Jon Armstrong all of whom played multiple roles. To Samantha Billing (Rita), Warren Clark (Vinnie), Gareth Mullan (Luigi), Catriona Clarke (Annabel) and especially Oliver Oxley as Harry Witherspoon, the hapless hero of the piece, for his tour de force performance and Tom Heald for the incredibly difficult job of the corpse. Not as easy as it might sound, considering what happens to the corpse at various stages.

This cast produced an excellent opening night with a fast paced zany performance of this fun show.  Congratulations to Festival Players’ Director Matt Wilkinson, his cast and all involved.  What a great start to 2024!

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