Rumours

sodbury Players

Rumours                              Chipping Sodbury, Town Hall.                 May 16th 2019

Director:  Maggie Allsop                     Assistant Director: Ros Kent

This farcical play by Neil Simon was originally set in New York but this was set in England.  A group of friends are gathering at the home of Charlie Brock and his wife, to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary.  As you would expect with a farce things are not going according to plan.  Ken and Chris Bevan, friends of the Brock’s, have arrived to find the wife missing and Charlie having shot himself in the head, which actually turns out to be through the ear lobe.  All the servants have disappeared, but the food for dinner is all there.  As more guests arrive the situation becomes more complicated, with the guests revealing all sorts of rumours about their hosts and others, which are all left unresolved by the end of the play.  Rather eccentric guest Cookie Cusack, who has her own food programme on television, helped by her husband Ernest, eventually cooks the food.

The set for this play was excellent; it had been well designed and solidly constructed.  The script demanded several doors, a window, stairs leading to the bedrooms, plus various pieces of furniture.  There was a staircase leading to the bedrooms, 5 practical doors leading to various parts of the house, 2 long windows with venetian blinds, a sofa and two chairs, a drinks table, plus set dressing with shelves, plants, a mirror, tables with lamps and a phone.  The set had been well lit and there was an excellent lighting effect when the various cars arrived.  Sound was well cued with good effects.  The costumes were appropriate to a party with lots of cocktail dresses.  Technically everything worked really well.

I found the play funny and laughed a lot, but I felt there was a lack of confidence in places which resulted in several prompts, although everyone did become more confident as the play went on.  There were one or two lovely moments, which I really enjoyed. The monologue delivered by Steve Crump as Lennard Cummings was a highlight, with excellent reactions from the others.  The part where Simon Carney as Ken Bevans is deaf was well handled, and had the audience laughing.  The two who came over really well were Ross Arnott as Glenn Cooper and Jade Meachin as his wife Cassie, they were confident and understood their characters.  As is often the case in farce there were many comings and goings, and the timing of the doors opening and closing was very good.  The actors all had clarity of diction and projected well. 

It is a complex play and I do not know if Director Maggie Allsop and Assistant Director Ros Kent had had a limited rehearsal period, but it did not quite reach the high standards usually associated with this award winning company. It had the makings of a good production, with an excellent set and many humorous moments but lacked confidence.

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