The Dresser

This was my first visit to this delightful society in their village hall in Ewhurst. Their choice of production, ‘The Dresser’ by  Ronald Harwood, is the story of one day in the life of an ageing actor, Sir, suffering from the stress of overwork and his dresser, Norman, who has worked with him and loved him for many years.  Act One was a little slow and static with rather long pauses until Sir entered the scene.  Perhaps Norman should have been given some natural chores to do such as tidying the room or the dressing table.  Peter Bradley gave a brilliant performance as Sir showing all the characteristics of an ego maniac holding all the attention of everyone.  He was demanding, obstinate and threw tantrums when crossed.  A very difficult part to perform with vast amounts of dialogue carried off to perfection.  Norman, played by Tony Money, on the other hand was quite the opposite.  He came over as ‘gay’ just enough but never overdone. His movements, expressions and walk were perfect and his approach to Sir had just the right amount of deference, gently but cleverly getting the ‘great man’ to do as he was told.  He had massive amounts of dialogue to learn but, unfortunately, had to be prompted a number of times.  This did not detract from two outstanding performances.  The rest of the cast all gave good support to these two main characters especially Jane Biggins, Victoria Helstrip and Angela Richardson.  The set was very cleverly designed and built enabling the audience to see Sirs Dressing Room, Back Stage and Front of House all at the same time!  The props and costumes were very appropriate as were the lighting and sound effects.  All together this was an extra special piece of theatre.  Well done.

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