Natural Causes

Thank you for your kind invitation to report on your recent production of "Natural Causes", a most amusing dark comedy about poisoning and euthanasia.  The script calls for pace, clarity and good repartee, combined with good body language and facial expression and real sense of story telling.  I am very happy to say that this production was excellent in all these areas and more, making it a real pleasure to see.

Directing the play on such a wide stage must have given its own problems, but the action throughout was well focussed in different areas of the stage.  It also gave room for the actors to move with purpose and speed. The focus was helped enormously by the very good lighting which was well-cued.  It was also good occasionally to have pauses in the script, which were well covered by the actors' portraying their worries and thoughts before the continuation of action. 

The set was very well designed and constructed, and provided all the necessary touches to make the room believable. Indeed, the set was so good it seems a shame that the play was only performed for two nights.  Lighting was very good, with an effective spotlight on the fischus plant that died slowly during the play. Costumes were used to great effect to indicate the character of each actor.

However, it was the acting that made this show so remarkable.  The characterisations were excellent throughout, connecting well both with each other and the audience. The five characters were all well-defined and slightly exaggerated, working well together in presenting the storyline.  Walter was as played the put upon husband to perfection, while Vincent was nicely dark as the supplier of poison, with an excellent London accent.  Celia had such an expressive face and used it so well to convey her thoughts and doom-laden desires. Angie by contrast was played as an ambitious modern miss, with a nice line in plotting, while Withers, from the Samaritans, was played as almost a pantomime character. 

This group of experienced actors have formed the new group in order to bring affordable theatre to the area around Cirencester. If this is representative of their standard of production, then the area is in for some superb treats in the future!

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.