Play On

This comedy tells the tale of an amateur theatre group trying to ‘put on’ a new murder mystery ‘Murder Most Foul’. The only problem is that the author of the play keeps interfering and changing the script.  Sometimes standing side of stage doing re-writes.  The author, Phyllis Montague, was played by Margaret Jeffcoat who is so good at playing Dottie old women. 

The director of ‘Murder Most Foul’, Gerry  (Helen Gilfoyle) does her best to keep the cast together but has to put up with members storming off stage, arguments and dealing with her stage manager (Jenny Culligan) and hand women (Carol Grice).  She also has to put up with props in the wrong place and sound effects going wrong, especially when Phyllis wipes the master sound effects tape.

Anyway back to the plot. Lord and Lady Dudley are hosting a party in their home. George Georgiou and Anne Troman played the roles well, especially Anne with her exaggerated hand and head gestures. Doris, the maid, looks after them and Amy Tregellis needed to keep fit running on and off stage delivering their messages and answering the phone. The villain of the piece is Lee Tregellis as Dr. Forbes, going from French to a country gent and murderer in one foul scoop. The Romantic pair in the production are John Richardson as Stephen Sellers (Who delivered his lines in the same tone all the way through, very funny) and Clair Tregellis with the ill-fitting wig. This production had some very funny moments and anyone connected with the amateur theatre would understand their dilemma’s. The play is broken down into three acts  - rehearsal – dress rehearsal and opening night and anyone who is involved with an amateur show would know someone on stage.

 I especially enjoyed act three, the opening night. If it could go wrong it did. The play had many laugh out moments and Clive Barlow did a great job with the script. The set looked good, transformed from the bare rehersal stage to a full set.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.