Stop! The Play

An amusing evening, watching everything that a new play throws up, and the angsts or acceptance of the cast, when faced with a writer who never appears but keeps sending re-writes, and a first time Director, working with an experienced cast!  What can go wrong......?

John O’Leary-Fawcett directed his cast well, I can imagine a lot of fun and confusion in rehearsals, working out who was who and where they should be at any one time! I was a little thrown by the opening, there was nothing to absolutely grab the audience’s attention, but once we realised it had started we paid attention to the proceedings.

The set was a black box, but nicely dressed with white furniture, creating a good look, which was nicely lit by Aidan Brown.

Sound from Graham Elliott was good throughout.

The ‘chat’ projection was a good idea, however it was too small for a lot of the audience to read easily.

Costumes seemed to be suitable for each character, and enough changes were made to signify the different days the action took place.

I wasn’t sure about the play itself, it gave the actors good scope, but wasn’t always clear to me in intention, but having said that I found it very funny, with lots of innuendo and also straight talking.  As is usual, audiences on each night reacted differently, we were possibly a little more restrained that others!

I thought the performances were good, and the interaction between the cast was good.

I really liked Janine Dowdall in her first ever production, she showed great understanding of Gemma or Linda(?) – a very fine line, but Janine coped well with the part and the other more experienced actors, and gave a very good performance.

Paul Ramsey played Hugh – a frustrated actor, who obviously thought he was better than the writer thought he was – as what started out as a good part, ended up as a much smaller part.  Paul has a command of the stage and really gets into the part he is playing – very believable.

Evelyn, the Director, was played by Anthony Bird – who fitted the description of a first time Director, who had put money into the play and relied rather heavily on his parents, so wanted it to go right.  I liked the way he delivered his stock phrase to actors who thought they were being side-lined, and wanted to leave, I could sense his frustration.

Emma Mills played Chrissie the Production Manager, who went out of her way to get everything Evelyn and the writer wanted, only to be thwarted at every turn.  I loved the bit with the monkey (now I understand the title logo!), and the fact it had ended her relationship – a lovely part that Emma did exceedingly well.

Linda (or whoever) gave Debbie Cavanagh a chance to do something different, and I thought she did well.  Several nuances to her parts, I particularly enjoyed the journalist, who was a different type of woman for Debbie to play.

Ty Ciamala, another newcomer to Griffins played Kriston, I liked what he did with the part, plenty of edginess, and some nice lines well-delivered. I hope now Ty has renewed his acquaintance with the stage he will continue to perform.

The revelation for me in this cast was Graham Thomas, who played Walter, the older actor forever reminiscing about his triumphs from many years ago.  I loved his rather other-worldly persona, the Northern accent worked well and wasn’t too pronounced, so very well done.

I especially loved the Linda/Walter scene, very well done.

Much to like here, a very entertaining and well-acted evening.

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