Roleplay

Roleplay by Alan Ayckbourn was originally part of a trilogy “Damsels in Distress” and features his usual clever mix of vividly drawn characters, miscommunication, domestic tension and confusion to make absurd situations strangely believable. Justin and Julie-Ann are holding a dinner party in his Docklands flat with their respective families, to announce their engagement. They are obviously mismatched and the whole evening is thrown into chaos by a glamourous dancer from the penthouse apartment dropping onto their balcony swiftly followed by her minder, an ex-boxer.

First performed in 2001, as the programme says, it reflects the views and attitudes of the time. There were a couple of occasions where I felt we were entering dodgy territory, but trouble was neatly sidestepped, and perhaps it’s good to have this reminder of how much attitudes have changed in the last 25 years.

As always with this group, we received a very warm welcome from the front of house people and had time before the start to admire the full-colour programme – attractive, well laid out and informative (Sass Adams). The box set (Andy Ripley), which was used throughout, portrayed Justin’s living room, and was well furnished with plenty of props (Sonia Hill) to make it feel like a home. Lighting was good too and the sound effects (both Paul Impey) were spot-on and well-timed.

It was good to see a sprinkling of new faces – sure sign of a healthy society - not least Director Penny Verity, who has encouraged her strong cast to give us some well-defined and sparky characters, really bringing this wordy play to life. Rajal Khan and Megan Cranfield were well paired as Justin and his fiancée-to-be Julie-Ann. Raj was perfect as the timid, eager to please computer programmer, with a nice line in ‘bewildered’ and so obviously not suited to the confident and manipulative Julie-Ann – a strong portrayal by Megan, with some great mood swings as she gradually revealed her character’s true nature. I almost applauded Justin at the end for taking back control of his life.

Into their party suddenly dropped unwanted guest Paige, a former lap-dancer, escaping her abusive boyfriend by climbing down six floors of the apartment block. Erin Corrigan made her a very ballsy, potty-mouthed character, with just the right amount of ‘common’ to be convincing. She was swiftly followed by her minder Micky - Chris Wrein, who was every inch the impassive ex-boxer, ever loyal to his boss and determined to stop Paige escaping. He turned the character nicely at the end showing sympathy for Paige’s situation. Jo Webb and Kevin Cordell were ideal as Julie-Ann’s parents Dee and Derek – he the bluff, blustering right-wing Yorkshireman, trying to bend everyone to his will, and she the downtrodden housewife following two steps behind. Completing this lovely cast was Suki Jones as Arabella – Justin’s lush of a mother. What standout performance! She had the Surrey accent to a ‘t’ and made the drunkenness nicely subtle, causing great confusion along the way mixing up the identities of her son’s intended, and inadvertently insulting the real fiancée.

This was an excellent production – good set, great cast, confident direction leading to excellent performances – huge well done to everyone involved!

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