Outside Edge

Richard Harris’s satirical play requires good pace and timing is of the essence.

The First Act was rather slow in pace as it took time to establish the wonderfully diverse characters and unfortunately it raised very few laughs from the audience. Act Two however picked up in speed, the timing was very good and the audience became more involved, enjoying the comedy as the individual stories came to light. Some of the dialogue was dated and perhaps not quite as amusing or appropriate as it was in some of the sit-coms of the 1960/70’s. I wonder if some of it could have been changed a little to suit today’s audience.

The set, depicting the interior and exterior of the cricket pavilion was very good and all of the properties and furniture were in keeping with the venue and the presumed era.

In the role of Roger, Anthony Kemp’s diction and projection were excellent.  He took his position as Captain of the team very seriously - in fact cricket was his raison d’etre. There was no real affection between him and Miriam, despite the outward appearance of a happy marriage.

Moyra Brookes’ interpretation of his poor longsuffering, subservient wife Miriam was very good. She was a doormat in their relationship and was the real organiser of the cricket matches, yet happy to let her husband take the credit. It was on occasion a little difficult to hear her, which is always a problem in that type of character as by nature she had to be less confident. I liked the rather ‘Sybil Fawlty’ tone she adapted for the presentation of the character.

As the adored husband of Maggie, Peter Hart acted the part of Kevin well. He and his wife had a turbulent relationship which was punctuated by moments of Maggie mothering/smothering him and they clearly thrived on it. The audience enjoyed it too!

Nikky Kirkup had great fun in the role of the loud and brash Maggie and she gave a splendid performance. Her cockney accent was good and she made the most of her opportunities to cuddle and protect Kevin, whether or not he was a willing partner at that moment!

The ladies-man Denis was always on the look out for a chance to get close to one of them and was played confidently by Julian Edney.

Dashing in his blazer and white flannels, Paul Reynolds looked very much the part - he handled being the worse for drink well. His acting was good.

His wife Ginnie was disdainful and totally indifferent to cricket, her main purpose on the day appeared to be making sure that she got the absolutely best position to improve her tan. As the long suffering second wife Selena Edney played the role with style.

The young and absolutely mismatched couple Alex and Becca, added another mix to the personalities. Alex the lawyer was arrogant, self -centred and confident in his position of the best batsman on the team. He was also downright unpleasant to his girlfriend Sharon, caring far more about his car than he did about her. Josh Locke was very convincing in the role.

Becca Day gave a wonderful performance as Sharon – incredibly awkward amongst the other couples and so very timid. Her difficulty in trying to get to the loo and her body language left no doubt as to the dilemma she was in and that section was one of the funniest in the play.

The couples appeared to have a common interest in the game of cricket but the individual relationships were all so different and not as they appeared on the surface. The insight into the various relationships was a thought provoking and rather sad reflection of what sometimes goes on under the surface in most people’s lives, but it was also full of humour.

Jeff’s direction was good. Conversations inside the pavilion were interspersed with shouts from those outside watching the match and the timing was spot on. There was plenty of business on the stage, clearing/tidying up etc; and movements around the set were nicely varied and interesting.

Lighting and sound was suitable for the play and operated proficiently.

Your programme is interesting - love the Guide to a Successful Cricket Tea –and easy to negotiate.

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