Rumours

‘Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive’ this quote from Sir Walter Scott perfectly sums up Neil Simon’s absurd but hilarious farce of relationships, reputations and subterfuge.  Producer Daniel Toyne has transported the witty script, which was originally set in America, to the affluent London suburbs and has given it an eighties theme which is reflected in the décor, music and costumes. 

It is the 10th wedding anniversary of Charlie and Vivian who are hosting a dinner party, with their closest friends, to celebrate the occasion. A sudden gunshot echoes - but who is the victim? Chris Bevans and her husband Ken spring into action; Charlie has shot himself in an apparent suicide attempt and his wife is missing. Fortunately, the bullet has only pierced his earlobe and is not life threatening.

Another couple arrives.  Leonard Cummings, who has whiplash from a head on crash in his brand-new BMW, and his sarcastic wife Claire nursing a split lip. Hilariously, both women are wearing similar dresses which they wore at different charity dinner dances.  Leonard and Claire notice the absence of their hosts and start to discuss a rumour about Viv and Charlie’s marriage and possible affairs.

Next to arrive are eccentric, hypochondriac Cookie Cusack and her doting husband Ernest.  They are both fed a version of the truth which becomes more fantastical with each telling and made even more confusing with yet another gunshot resulting in more escalating excuses. 

Ken has accidentally dropped the loaded gun and, as a result, has become deafened resulting in a hilarious scene where he mishears all the conversations and even crawls around the carpet mistakenly looking for a trapped cat as he frantically checks drawers.

Further injuries ensue with Cookie having one of her back spasms, resulting in her crawling painfully into the kitchen to cook dinner, followed by her husband Ernest burning his fingers.

The final couple to arrive are the arrogant soon to be MP for Brighton, Glenn Cooper and his caustic, estranged wife Cassie who is into new age crystals and suspects her husband is having an affair. 

All the characters are well to do with prominent positions where reputations could be ruined by any hint of scandal.  So, when the police turn up, they are faced with a dilemma; do they tell the truth and risk their reputations or come up with another plausible excuse for the situation? 

The comic timing of all the cast was very good as they desperately tried to hide the truth from each other with each increasingly absurd situation.  Simon Warner played PC Conklin (ably supported by a mostly silent but very funny Jooli Atkins as WPC Casey) as a suspicious officer of the law becoming steadily more incredulous with every revelation.  

Angela Grant, (as the cookery show presenter ironically named Cookie) was good as the attention seeking drama queen assisted by her devoted husband Ernest played by Peter Thomas. Peter brought a definite gravitas to the situation not taking anything on face value mercilessly probing the desperate excuses. Angela Ingall played Claire with an acid tongue and a flair for the understatement. Her rekindled romance with husband Leonard was very sweet. Emily Cheyette was a bitter angry Cassie berating her husband with sarcastic barbs and her husband Glenn played by Alexi Sparsi captured the arrogance and the political ambitions of the would-be MP as he mistakes Ernest for a butler and desperately tries to hide his face from the police. 

Ken, played by Thomas Perkins, was a definite source of humour particularly with his hilarious responses to misheard conversations and crawling around looking for a non-existent cat.  Karen Hunter was excellent as the wife under pressure, becoming increasingly inebriated, while trying to talk to the doctor about Charlie’s condition (crucially without mentioning the gunshot injury) while Ken frantically shouts instructions from the upper level.  She played the lecherous drunk to perfection shamelessly groping Glenn’s bottom.  

The highlight, however, was Alistair Littlewood as Leonard who was initially constantly whinging and full of self-pity and speaking condescendingly to his wife but was then forced (by a game of rock paper scissors) to perform a frantic monologue.  While masquerading as the absent Charlie, even wearing his red silk pyjamas, he told his own improvised convoluted explanation of the night’s events to the mystified police officers complete with Spanish accents.

The two-level set was used very effectively providing a platform landing area for Ken to communicate with Chris about Charlie’s condition.  Various doors were used to emphasis the farcical exits and entrances especially the downstairs toilet where two of the characters hid from the others.  All the eighties’ references were well done and provided lots of tiny attention to detail which members of the audience of that generation (me included) were delighted to spot. 

Costumes, hairstyles and accessories also reflected the period with the ladies in dinner dresses appropriate to the time.  I particularly loved Cassie’s wrap around gold lurex dress.  The men were also appropriately dressed in full evening jackets with Ken having a tell-tale blood stain on his white shirt. I liked the way Chris removed her clip-on earrings when she answered the vintage trimphone. The picture of Margaret Thatcher on the wall subtly reflected the political backgrounds of the guests. 

The sound and lighting teams worked well to ensure that the stage was well lit and sound effects were used appropriately.

Well done Retford Little Theatre for staging this very witty comedy of errors and the decision to stage it during the eighties allowed lots of opportunity for nostalgic set design.  It was lovely to chat to Stage Manager Keri Duffy about the set-building and other aspects of the production and Daniel Toyne the Producer about his experience staging his first production with the group. 

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