One Man Two Guvnors

It is always a delight to be invited to Maldon Drama Group.  They are certainly one of the friendliest societies I have the pleasure to visit.  The ‘Front of House’ team, led by the fantastic Linda Adair, make you welcome the moment you walk through the doors.

This hilarious comedy is always a sure fire hit for any society and the huge publicity drive by this group meant almost full houses.  With such a large auditorium and gallery to fill this is no mean feat so accolades go to the publicity team.

Helen Rasmussen, once again directed the group in this production.  So much depends on the timing of this play and Helen had obviously worked very hard to get the level we saw last night.  Based on The Servant With Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni, author Richard Bean's comedy masterpiece is a wickedly funny seaside farce set in Brighton in 1963.

Opening the production was Charlie ‘The Duck’ Clench (Dave Ford) and his naïve, dumb blonde daughter Pauline. (Heather Lucas)  About to be engaged to actor Alan “Orlando” Dangle (Alex Owers), the scene is set for the mayhem that will follow.  Wonderful expressions on Dave Ford’s face, with the right accent which seemed almost too good. Heather as Pauline was a joy and her characterisation throughout was excellent. Dim and easily confused she was great on stage. I loved her costume, which really did look just right for the role. Her intended Alan was really a credit to Maldon Drama Group. He got the ‘actor’ expressions and voice just right and stood out for me as an actor to watch.  Well done to all of you.

Harry Dangle (Alan Ireland) gave a good performance, although a smaller role, did well to establish his character as the eloquent Latin-quoting ‘not so ethical solicitor’.

Dolly played by experienced actress Carey Brown was super with a brown bee hive hairstyle, a fuchsia, tight top and short skirt, she got the audience on side from the start and knew what she wanted from a man. Just sometimes I missed her asides to the audience as the low level mikes didn’t always pick up the dialogue.  I would have loved to hear her project, as she is always a treat to watch.

Lloyd Boating played by Chris Pond, the friend of the Clenches and the landlord of the pub, had good characterisation and a solid performance. I did love his looks to the audience when he mentioned Parkhurst.

Rachel Crabbe (Ghislane Davis) masquerading as her dead brother Roscoe worked hard at creating two different personas. This is a difficult part to play as the character must be believable first as a male and then later as a female. This she accomplished well with a strong performance as one of the Guvnors.

Stanley Stubbers (Neil Fisher) used his tall physique to reinforce his role as the other Guvnor. Always a charismatic presence on stage, as the posh public school boy who had turned to crime, he understood what was needed by the writer’s intentions and gave a consistent very appropriate over the top performance. 

Alfie (Martin Adams) was a joy as the doddery, elderly waiter with a pacemaker. His knockabout routine was excellent and obviously he was enjoying the role. The Head waiter Brenda (Karen Smith) played the role straight, so this was a good pairing. Other roles of Policeman, Vicar and Elderly lady were played by Dedric Smith and Stephanie Ireland.

Alfred Knightbridge gave us a cameo performance as the Taxi Driver.  Alfred is the President of the Group which is celebrating its 70th year. He has been there since he saw curtain up in  Oct 1952 and I was delighted to award the NODA long service medal to him at the end of the evening for all his commitment and hard work with the group. He is still acting and prompting, and a genuine friend to the Group.

So last but not least the star of the show. Scott Peters, he had a huge task to take on, as most of us have seen James Cordon in the role and have expectations of who this character should be.  He delivered with energy and verve with a huge smile on his face as he clearly relished the lines and the role. He got the audience exactly where he wanted them and they loved it.  I found it a bit hard to believe he enjoyed his food so much, as he is so slim and even with the pillow under his shirt it needed a lot of characterisation of the role for us to take this on but he managed this well. Congratulations Scott, you really did deserve the applause.

Lighting and Sound were fine although the Lonny Donegan songs during the scene changes sounded a bit muffled.  Costumes were good and had obviously been thought about really well.

The set was probably the only thing that let this production down.  With the doors being a trifle wobbly, side entrances when doors opened showing nothing but the back of the flats and stage left you could see the cast crossing upstage to come on.

That said it was an excellent production which all involved should be very proud of. Congratulations to all.

 

Christine Davidson

 

 

 

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