Natural Causes

A very busy set which represented the study of Walter Bryce.Ths walls were lined with a book effect paper which looked rather more like a library than a study, but the furniture and props were good and well suited to the play.

The cast consisted of three men and two women.  Keith Raby as Vincent had a huge amount of dialogue and did very well in a major part in the production.   Here and there the pace flagged a bit on entries, but picked up well generally.

Mark Hinson as the husband Walter Bryce interpreted the character in a effective manner as did Teresa Fraser as his wife Celia.

Teresa’s entry was mid way through the first act, and she gave a spirited performance as the somewhat “confused” wife.   From the conversation between Vincent, Angie and Walter regarding the health of Celia I expected a rather frail ill lady, but far from it, Celia proved that she was by no means a push over, and soon discovered the relationship between her husband and his secretary Angie, played by Lesley Mercer, was rather more than she was lead to believe.

The twists and turns in the play were well accomplished and with the arrival of Withers played by Richard Heath even more complications arose.

Both Lesley and Richard had important characters within the storyline and gave good accounts of their characters, and the whole cast, I felt, gelled very well together.

Act Two followed with even more revelations and led to the ultimate climax to close the play which I thought was a bit confusing?

Lighting and sound were very good, and costumes well suited to the time of the play which was around the 1990’s.

Hilarious, but complicated, so the audience really did have to keep alert to the changes throughout this clever production.

Well done to Angie on her direction, and to the company for a very different theme in a black comedy.

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