Rumours

During a quiet evening in May 1997 at a large house set in London, Chris and Ken arrive for a fancy dinner party to celebrate their friend, Charley Brook’s 10th wedding anniversary with his wife Vivian. They discover that all is not well, and that Charley has had an accident involving a shotgun and his earlobe. This could be damaging to Charley’s reputation, as he is assistant deputy Minister of Finance. Chris and Ken’s friends begin to arrive. As they attempt to cover up the facts, hilarity ensues. Written by Neil Simon, Rumours is a charming farce and borrows from Simon’s life experience to depict the challenges, as well as the comforts, of married life.

The fixed and attractive set, depicting a living room leading upstairs to bedrooms, was well furnished in excellent detail – even the clock  arrived at 8.30pm when the play commenced, to tally with the time set in the programme for Act 1. Chris (Leah Yendell) and Ken (Jon Oseland) are the first to arrive and somewhat stressed to find Charley covered in blood. Next to arrive are Claire (Rosie Pring) and Len (Chris Davies), Charley’s Personal Tax Consultant,  who have just had an accident in Len’s new BMW, resulting in Len’s whiplash which caused him to hang his head to one side with great expression and amusement. They refer to rumours that Vivian is having an affair, which Claire does not agree with, citing Charley as the guilty party. Ken wonders if this why Charley may have tried to shoot himself.

Ernest (Steve Siddle) and Cookie (Maura Williams) are next to arrive and eventually it is decided that they had better start preparing the meal, but both have accidents in the kitchen (In addition to Cookie’s regular back spasms) creating greater hilarity. Meanwhile Ken accidentally fires the gun in an attempt to hide it from Charley and this makes him deaf. Soon to arrive are hopeful MP Glenn (Adam Brown) and Cassie (Susan Resuggan) who are clearly not getting on – Cassie is clearly vociferous towards Glenn believing he is having an affair.

All involved are convincing in their portrayals and the speed and projection was good. They all try to prepare an explanation for the situation which is very funny. Chris becomes more and more drunk, Cassie loses her precious crystal down the loo and the end of Act 1 reaches a clever crescendo of confusion.

During the opening of Act 2 ‘later that evening’, the apparent truth has been made clear to all present.  However soon Cassie is flirting with Len and then Ken, and Cassie and Glenn have a row; have Glenn and Vivian been having an affair?  Just one more twist in a story that captivated the audience, just before the police actually arrive -  Sgt. Conklin (Alan Clarke) and PC Casey (Eleanor Crowte) - I liked the inaudible messages Casey was receiving on her walkie talkie. Before the police enter, the guests panic and eventually Len is chosen to pose as Charley. Actually, the police want to enquire about the road accident and talk to the drivers, one of which is Len, which creates more confusion!

Glenn lets it slip out about the gun shot and the police suspect they are all covering something up, so Len has to appear as Charley suitable bandaged and gives one huge ludicrous, rambling explanation, including a story that Vivian is in the basement, - leaving one more twist to the story.

This was an excellent production in the hands of Director Sarah Taylor, well dressed, backed by a superb set and spot on sound effects. Congratulations to all involved.

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