Moonlight and Magnolias

This play from the 1939 era is a comedy retelling the birth of the film “Gone with the Wind”.  Producer David O Selznick took two years to find the right actress to play Scarlett O’Hara, and the production was  then blighted with script issues and spiralling costs. (Sound familiar?).  This is the point at which the play starts, with the Producer, his Script Writer and Director locked in a room for five continuous days to rework the screenplay for the film.

The “raison d’etre” of the play was the reason for the frantic activity of the actors in this production.  Brendan Egan played David O Selznick, the Producer, with Steve Smith as Victor Fleming, the Director, and Richard Straw as Ben Hecht, the Script Writer.  The Script Writer has only ever read Page 1 of the book. This story is about his frustrations and unwillingness to write anything at all.  Richard Straw portrayed these emotions in an understandable way.  Brendan Egan displayed his frustration at the inability of the Script Writer to grasp what is wanted.  Steve Smith wanted to work by displaying imaginary camera angles for the non-existent script.

Dialogue was fast, furious and frenetic in this convoluted story-line, with subjects ranging from religion to politics.  These three actors were on stage for two hours, and while action ranged from frustration to anger with raised voices, no prompts were  taken.  The excellent acting also displayed some fighting as well as portraying gathering tiredness.  Amidst all this, Vicki Lockey was an oasis of calm as the Secretary, Miss Poppenguhl, providing bananas and peanuts as sustenance.

The set built by the Society, reflected the period accurately, Congratulations must go to the Props team who after each scene change ensured that the set became more disreputable and messed up with screwed-up paper, peanut shells and banana skins.
A good evening’s entertainment.

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