Murder At Checkmate Manor

Murder At Checkmate Manor performed by North Manchester AODS was definitely an experience.

We arrived to a very detailed open set. There was a working doorway, an archway, a window with curtains, a staircase, 5 dining chairs, 1 broken chair, a table, a chess set, a painted fireplace, a telephone, a painted portrait, a fridge front /cupboard front and a blackout curtain entrance. A prompters table was set on the apron to stage left.  Visually the set immediately caught your eye because it was all one space - even though parts were decorated differently it wasn’t broken into separate room spaces. I believe the function of the show is to view a very bad amateur production, so instantly that was right . Props throughout the show were good and in keeping and  the cast handled them well. Lighting was fairly generic and sympathetic to the scenes, sound was good with no drops or gremlins. Costumes were good, the attention to details helped the audience recognise what character was being played at any one time – this was particularly useful when a cast member was playing multiple characters.

Catherine Borg-Fenech as Mrs Reece was every inch the bossy, busy, control freak. Her portrayal of the seven full bodied characters was very good, she had an inordinate amount of dialogue to learn and she never fluffed or faltered unintentionally, her timing was exquisite, she eked every inch out of her characters and gave the audience enough time to appreciate every single nuance, twitch or sigh. Patricia Smithies as Audrey was a great counterbalance with her dithering and intentional clumsiness. She gave us some fabulous facial expressions and little aside looks, she also never needed any prompts for any of her dialogue. Jayde Rylance as Thelma took on two extra characters and delivered them with aplomb. The "dancing" with Hugo Lewkowicz (Gordon) was definitely something special, the comedy timing between these two characters was fantastic. Hugo is a master at playing the audience, he instinctively knew exactly when to pause and when to swivel his head or do a double take, he is a very natural actor. Lerato Mokate as Felicity and the two other characters they played within the play was comedy gold, again a huge amount of dialogue was delivered with great projection and at times pizazz! I particularly enjoyed the switching costumes between Pawn and Colonel King bit, the timing and delivery was spot on. All the cast used their stage space well and kept good visuals  with the audience, when lines were being said from behind a door projection was very good .

Thank you for inviting me. Both myself and my guest enjoyed the madcap performances. See you all soon.

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