Night Must Fall

Welcome to District 7 to Wombourne Players who joined Noda in June this year. “Night Must Fall” was my first visit to their production and I was warmly welcomed by Catherine Hammond whom I have known for many years.

The play began at a leisurely pace with a summing up of Court proceedings from the Lord Chief Justice (Mike Frost). Following his departure from the stage the play really began the pace hastened by Dan’s entrance (Chris Clarke). Mrs Bransom (Lynda Dunn) delivered her character stiffly, as appropriate, but this was not maintained in her relationship with Dora (Caroline Rabone) and Mrs Terence (Amanda Clarke).   She was flattered by Dan’s attentions, which led to her misguided trust of her new companion and predictably to her demise.

Amanda Clarke offered some humour in her portrayal of busybody Mrs Terence spoiled only by her cockney accent which intermittently became Black Country.

The played lacked tension but the audience were quickly drawn to the Welsh speaking, cheeky, chirpy personality of Dan. As the play progressed we learned of his schizophrenic tendencies and inner torment. Sarah Aldridge (Olivia) was the only one who perceived these but she had dark thoughts of her own and had her own motives for not co-operating with the police.

Supporting character sMark Jones (Hubert), Brigitte Brown (Nurse Libby) and Mike Frost (Inspector Belsize) were uncertain in some aspects of dialogue and seemed to lack cohesion between the players and the story.

The overall quality of the performance was raised by Chris Clarke (Dan) whose experience and personalisation injected the right amount of suspense.

The set was appropriate for the 1930’s but some of the costumes were not reflective of the fashions of the era and the hair styles were too modern. A good selection of props and lighting was effective.

 

 

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