Play On!

PLAY ON! by Rick Abbott is a hilarious farce and tells the story of an amateur theatre company putting on a production. The story follows a rehearsal, the dress rehearsal and the first night of  ‘Murder Most Foul’   The group faces a myriad of problems ranging from infighting among the cast, snide remarks and back biting and the interference of the author who is continually amending the script. A frustrated director tries to bring it all together.

The stage design was inventive, depicting the various scenes i.e. the stage in the various phases of finish. The props were realistic and well used i.e. the phone that didn’t work at the correct time, the safe with no back on, scripts and so on.  

The costumes were many and varied from the cast changing from their rehearsal clothes to period costumes, intentionally ill-fitting wigs, evening suits for the men and .   excellent maid’s outfit  for ‘Doris the Maid’ . There was great attention to detail such as the tool belt for the character ‘Louise Peary’ the sound and lighting technician.     

The lighting was good and well controlled throughout with special effect lighting used to give the impression of speeded up action.   The sound was excellent with good use of effects; thunder, police sirens and music. .

This was an excellent example of ensemble acting. Under the direction of Vicky Rodd – who also appeared as the Director within the play -  this production was a showcase of how things can, and do, go wrong when staging an amateur production. We were treated to a series of arguments, misunderstandings, mishaps and backstage antics to the delight of the audience. The cast were totally convincing in their roles which covered all the stereotypes: the vain diva, the gormless ingenue, the over the top character actor and the villain, who’s penchant for a drink brought forth a hilariously convincing portrayal of an actor going to pieces having forgotten his lines, or indeed any semblance of the plot!  Charles Church as Saul deserves a special mention for his performance. All of this was done with great precision and for it to look like chaos, it has to be meticulously rehearsed and performance.  The cast and creative team worked very hard and MVG rose to this challenge with aplomb. I haven’t laughed so much for ages.   

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