Plaza Suite

A famous English actress - and (to my intense irritation) I can’t remember who it was - said that when developing a character, she always started with the shoes. What brought this to mind was Jane Sykes playing Karen Nash in the opening play of the Neil Simon’s trilogy. She came on wearing a pair of chic 1970s wet-weather shoes and crossed the hotel-room set in a sort of hoppity-skippity run. It brought out the flightiness of the character with scarcely a word spoken. Chris Davis was equally believable as her self-regarding husband - a businessman whose obsession with work was cover for an affair with his secretary (played by Francesca Tucker with a fine example of 1970s American big hair).
Of the three plays, I think that time (and the width of the Atlantic) has been least kind to the first one. There’s an emptiness at the heart of the relationship between Sam and Karen Nash that isn’t filled by the dialogue. Not so with the second play in which sleazy Hollywood producer Jesse Kiplinger (Matthew Walker) tries to seduce his one-time school sweetheart with flattery, alcohol, and, ultimately, name-dropping. In this case, we get a lot of insight into the back-story of both characters - Muriel (Sharon Fisher) has clearly been following the career of her famous former boyfriend with avid interest. Again, this was very well played. The acting area is small since it’s a play between two people at least one of whom is trying to get as close as possible to the other, so a lot of the comedy was brought out by small movements and expressions, augmented by some hilariously blurted-out speeches from the increasingly drunk Muriel.
The final play is an out-and-out farce in which Jewish couple Roy and Norma Hubley (Adam Ogilvie and Barbara Evens) find their daughter Mimsey (Emily Norris) locked in the bathroom on her wedding day and refusing to come out. The relationship between the parents was beautifully portrayed, as was the physical comedy of the increasingly desperate attempts to winkle the daughter out of her shell. Finally, it’s a couple of words from the groom (Callum Hill) that does the trick, allowing the show to end with a brief but fabulous appearance of the bride. contributed to a fun and enjoyable evening’s entertainment.

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