Rumours

As a first time director, Bella Chirodian was very brave to take on a farce (Neil Simon), but how well it worked with such a well-assembled cast, good pace and pauses, comedy well-pointed; hopefully she will repeat the directorial role as well as her acting experiences.

Must comment on the excellence of the set and dressings, multi-level and well appointed with some up-market furnishings, congratulations to Clive Rush and his crew.

This is a play of ‘couples’ and the casting vital to match the partners to the characters and their interactions, and all gave excellent performances showing polish. Tim Smith and Louise Casson as the Bevans who arrive first for the party and find the disaster and try to disguise: their efforts were mind boggling in ingenuity as Ken tries to dictate the sequence and  they tried so hard to hide what they assumed to be the scenario. Meryl Anderson and Jimpy Casson as the next arrivals, the Cummings, with the damaged BMW and all the saga that went with that, and then the revelation of the presumed situation at the party. The extraordinary couple Cusacks (based on Craddocks?) Susie Jowett and Ian Webb with the cooking expertise; and finally the ill-assorted Coopers, Ellie Hupton and Adam Sewell, in disagreement as the final guests: all these four couples were so well matched for style and delivery and comedy timing that the play just had to be a success as each one took centre stage during the unravelling of the complex situations and drama, and they fed off each other and sparked the dialogue to give this amazing mix and interaction, good farce. And in the second act, we were joined by the law enforcers which just added to the general confusion with the questions from Geoff Gildersleeve and supported by Sally Elvin. The situation deteriorated with speed and we never really found out what was really happening, and that revelation speech from Jimpy Casson was worth a prize with his creativity which was just not believed, although with vestiges of truth: a proper farce.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.