Rules For Living

‘Rules for Living’ follows a family preparing for Christmas lunch, tensions begin to rise as they deal with family issues. Each movement, gesture or voice is dictated by the play’s set of ‘rules’ which the actors must follow to function correctly.

Firstly, I must congratulate the cast for maintaining their characters throughout a very demanding play, most players were on stage for the majority of the time, and it was quite a long time! We begin by meeting Matthew and his girlfriend Carrie who have gathered at his mom’s house for Christmas lunch with the rest of his family. This was Eoin Edwards’ first appearance with Lichfield Players, playing Matthew with confidence and a characterisation that bore resemblance to numerous comedic characters from television. He certainly stuck to his rule throughout and brought much amusement to the audience. Carrie, played by Hannah Britnell, was the girlfriend whom the family didn’t really like. Hannah displayed great comedy timing along with explicit body language and facial expressions. There was no doubt that Sheena, played by Rebecca Hyland was a dominant wife and not one to be messed with, she had a good stage presence and was very clear in everything she did. Another debutant was Steve Male who played brother Adam, it certainly was an impressive first appearance with confident movement around the stage. Trying to hold the family together was Edith, the mother, played the Niamh Mahon. I have seen Niamh in a number of roles now and her experience came through, delivering many put down lines to anyone who happened to be there. There were also cameo roles for Rob Lewis as Dad Francis, and a third debutant, Holly Rice, who played Emma. All in all, it was a most enjoyable performance. It is not very often that I find myself laughing out loud at something but there were lines in this play that made me do just that. As an opening night I felt there were occasions when it lacked a little pace but I’m sure that would be rectified as the week went on.

Lichfield Players always make good use of the space they have in The Studio and had the usual solid set behind them. This time there was also the added addition of a screen displaying each of the Rules in case the audience were in any doubt. The play was well directed by Sarah Stanley and it was another success for Lichfield Players. Congratulations!

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