Party Piece

All productions, whether murder mysteries, love stories, comedies or farces, require an appropriate pace. Ecclesall Players certainly achieved the right pace and atmosphere with “Party Piece” and delivered fast dialogue and action from start to finish. Sue Preston’s imaginative and skilled direction made sure that the dialogue was delivered at a good pace and each of the many entrances and exits were perfectly timed and executed by a very talented cast of seven actors. They understood their characters and skilfully brought them to life.

The set, expertly designed and built, reflected two different conditions of houses and gardens, from the perfect home of the Smethursts to the run-down and unkempt house of their neighbour, Mrs Hinson.

Michael Smethurst is an upright doctor and with his wife, Roma, have recently moved house and after lots of renovations, all done by Michael, decide to throw a fancy-dress house-warming party. The theme is that of famous couples, but with the men dressed as female stars and the ladies as their male partners. Guests are not allowed into the house; the celebrations are to be held in the garden along with a barbecue. From the outset things do not go to plan, the food has been left in the freezer and doesn’t appear to want to thaw and the barbecue isn’t firing up. In addition, several of the invited guests give various reasons not to come and this results in arguments. On top of all that there is the cantankerous neighbour, old Mrs Hinson, who is the controlling mother of her beloved son David and the mother-in-law from hell. She interferes in everyone’s lives and causes trouble - especially for her beloved son and his wife, Jennifer. There are numerous funny situations, one being when Mrs Hinson’s Zimmer frame is thrown over the fence by her daughter-in-law in a fit of temper. This all adds adds to the mayhem with this already mad party.

Shenagh Firth, playing Roma Smethurst and Paul Voodini, playing Michael Smethurst, gave lively and brilliant performances, handling copious amounts of dialogue and maintaining a quick pace. They provided many hilarious moments, especially when Michael dressed as Ginger Rogers. Tom Pymer also stood out as David Hinson, alongside Lauren Birtles-Cropley as Jennifer. Chrissy Broughton gave an outstanding portrayal as Mrs Hinson; not an easy character to perform, but Chrissy was spot-on.    The only guests to arrive was man-eating Sandy Lloyd-Meredith with Sarah Rose giving it all. The very stylish “ladies’ man”, Toby Hancock, was played with charm by Dan Adamson.

As the play progresses things do not improve. David has had enough of his mother interfering in everyone’s lives, and he finally tells her what he thinks of her, although he does really love her. I am convinced that the audience wanted to cheer at this point, I know I did.

In support was the “Behind the Scenes” team, providing props and excellent sound effects of doorbells and telephones ringing throughout the production. They, along with the cast and production team, surely deserved a well-earned rest afterwards and every bit of the wonderful applause from an appreciative audience.     

Thank you for a wonderful evening’s entertainment.

Sue Cox –

Drama Rep Region 14

NODA N.E.

 

 

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