Playing Away

‘Playing Away’ written by Janet Shaw, it is a modern comedy play which contains themes of love, affairs, trust, friendship and prejudice. Despite these themes being quite heavy and thought provoking, they are wrapped up in a funny and heart warming play. The story is easy to follow and the script contains a number of monologues in the first act, which makes the staging of the play more interesting.

From the very first scene the play moved with a good pace, not rushed but quick enough to keep the audience interested. Humour was also brought to the forefront, with some very funny lines which the cast managed to deliver well. The set that we were greeted with, as the curtain opened was fitting for the play and resembled a slightly tired local pub. As we were introduced to different characters throughout the first half, we saw some fantastic characterisations. Everyone seemed comfortable within their role. 

The short monologues by various cast members made the show interesting and these were all well delivered. Some were produced as frozen scenes behind the principles and others had some movement behind. This did however take the focus and was a slight distraction. Possibly this was due to the large amount of light bleeding from the auditorium. As the balcony rail house lighting had not being turned off, this was rectified for the second half. This lighting did cause some of the scene changes within the first half to be visible.

The first half ended leaving the audience wanting the second act to begin. 

As initially suggested the script managed to depict an easy to follow story. But with the good direction and excellent performance standard, this enabled the play to stay light hearted. Allowing the audience to understand the happenings on stage without having to over think it. The confident portrayal of the script also helped with this. The good projection of voice and diction from the cast should also be commended. The use of local places and accents throughout made the audience have a greater connection with the play and characters which was a nice touch.

The scene changes where done to a mixture of silence and music. These did seem quite lengthy however, considering that most were only to cover the movement of cast members, and no set or prop changes. This could have possibly been due to a full chorus of the music being utilised, but it did make the changes seem very laboured. This did interrupt the flow of the whole production. 

The lighting design was uncomplicated and very fit for purpose. Sound was good throughout with sound effects and voices being well matched. There was a slight issue with one of sound effects, but the cast managed to include this into the play gaining some extra laughs. For which they should be commended for their ad-lib. Costumes were correct for this play, and well suited to the characters. Although the female cast sitting down in short skirts, probably revealed more than they realised. The hair and makeup was also good.

Overall this was an enjoyable production that was easy to watch and understand. The show brought together a strong cast, who managed to put across a believable story that the audience could connect with. The staging, lighting and sound all supported the cast adequately to deliver such an entertaining show. We would like to thank the society for their kind hospitality and we look forward to seeing them again next year. We would also wish to offer our congratulations as their ‘Accrington Pals’ programme, which not only won at regional level also won at National NODA level. 

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