Play On!

Clitheroe Parish Church AODS offered up a comical evening of theatrical whimsy for their autumnal dramatic outing and what a delightfully enjoyable bit of frothy nonsense it was. Packed with good humour and with the added dimension of this piece being a ‘play within a play (within a play)’, most of our performers were doubling up as characters playing a role in the hideously awful murder mystery, ‘Murder Most Foul’. This was quite a clever touch from author Nick Abbot as the film version of Agatha Christie’s ‘Mrs McGinty’s Dead’ - starring the glorious Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple (ridiculous casting of course but as majestically wonderful a piece of miscasting you’ll struggle to find in the annals of film history!) - was also given the title ‘Murder Most Foul’, something which Christie herself thought little of. Pinching the name of your whodunnit from Shakespeare might be said to be stealing from the best however and with this wealth of dastardly theatrical history behind it, here was a play which revelled in its own playfulness and which received a polished airing in the hands of director Damian Marsh and his cast. 

 

The play surrounds the calamities and catastrophes which follow from our merry band of thespians and their attempts to mount a production of a rather hopeless new murder mystery. The author just won’t leave the script - or the cast - alone with daily rewrites hampering rehearsals, not to mention gaping plot holes aplenty, overripe performances with more ham on display than Booths’ delicatessen counter and a race against time to get the whole mess knocked into shape for opening night. Act One gives us a rehearsal, Act Two, the dress rehearsal and the final Act, the stunningly dreadful opening night performance. The play cleverly plays with the audience’s expectations and knowledge of both the conventions of the genre and - by the time we reach the third act - our knowledge of the plot too. The stage was nicely dressed for both the initial rehearsal scenes and the opening night and the air of ‘reality’ was well judged. It was clear that this ‘play within a play’ was going to offer a sardonically ‘theatrical’ take on the traditional evening out at the theatre with a good deal of the action being wearily familiar to those of us who tread the boards ourselves.

 

‘Murder Most Foul’s embattled director, Geraldine Dunbar was played with a nicely judged sense of flustered realism by Kelly Steed, leaving the over the top histrionics to the rest of the cast. Her crew of put upon community theatre dependables were also well drawn by Sam Smith and Brian Haworth as stage manager and all-round theatrical technician respectably. Brian in particular brought out a fully rounded characterisation of a ‘type’ we all know well, the cantankerous but well meaning back stage technician; always on hand to offer a spot of well meaning advice but with an ever present look of ‘I told you it wouldn’t work in the first place’ barely disguised in the eyes: a brace of finely tuned performances here. 

 

Lesley Haworth and Trevor Lord played Polly and Henry Benish (a kind of cut-price community theatre Burton and Taylor) who were quite superbly dreadful in the roles of Lady Margaret and Lord Dudley - in the best possible way of course! - with Lesley in particular relishing the chance to really fly over the top with some stunningly awful touches as Lady Margaret. Peter Lambert’s performance as Saul Watson/Dr Rex Forbes was particularly fascinating, edging into the realm of the surreal on more than one occasion but always amusingly so. Amy Prendergast really came into her own in the Third Act and delivered a wonderful performance as scatty ingenue, Diana Lassiter: she really settled into the (double) roles of Violet/ Diana and shone on stage in the final scenes. Her would-be paramour, ‘Stephen Sellers’ (as played by Billy Carewe, played by Oliver Bowen) provided the audience with chuckles aplenty in a very forthright performance and provided us with perhaps the most amusing - by being the least convincing! - love scene in the history of amateur theatre. Shannon Shoreman satisfyingly essayed the role of disinterested student Marla and her impatience with the proceedings was well expressed, the rapid-fire delivery of her dialogue as Doris the maid was a treat. Pesky playwright Phyllis Montague was a lovely eccentric creation from Geralyn Lambert, forever changing her script and forcing her unwanted attentions onto the beleaguered cast.

 

This was an assured production with many highlights and comical moments. Lesley’s ‘wardrobe malfunction’ was a delight; the aforementioned ‘love scene’ was a little symphony of bewildering incredulity and thrashing incompetence; the final act really drew all the threads of the piece together and worked very well; Peter Lambert’s Dr Forbes was a stunningly surreal creation and lingers long in the memory; Amy Prendergast’s delicately vague performance in the final act was a joy... We bounced along merrily from one potential disaster to another, all in the best tradition of the ‘so bad it’s good’ offerings many of us are used to encountering on the amateur stage. There were a few occasions when I would have liked to have seen a little more differentiation between the characters our performers were playing and their comically clunky ‘Murder Most Foul’ characters as I think that certain nuances in the script were missed as a result (one thinks of Billy and Violet’s scenes together and the animosity between Saul and Polly) but this is a minor quibble as the end result was a jolly entertaining evening at the theatre from a company who clearly know their business.

 

This was a technically accomplished production which had obviously afforded both cast and crew a enjoyable and positive experience: when the company is clearly comfortable and enjoying their work, this confidence rolls off the stage and adds another dimension to the entertainment. Set design, costumes, lighting - and particularly the crystal clear sound - were all first class. As an Agatha Christie fan, it was also great to hear a snatch or two of Ron Godwin’s Miss Marple theme in the production: another nice touch. Director Damian Marsh had obviously inspired his cast to give of their best and the play was full of interesting flourishes and a clear minded approach to getting the most out of the script. My thanks go to everyone at CPCAODS for a very warm welcome and a most enjoyable evening: live entertainment of this calibre is something to be treasured. I look forward to my next visit with enthusiasm and wish you all well with your forthcoming production of ‘Calamity Jane’; all it remains for me to say is, play on!

 

 

 

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