The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery

How do you review a show that is technically supposed to be bad?

The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery is anything but a mystery.  We are informed by Mrs Reece FAHETG President that the Farndale ladies are proud to present a murder mystery of the highest degree. Anyone might be the killer and anyone may be the next target. The only problem is, the ladies can't seem to get their "act" together possibly because the five ladies play thirteen other roles between them. 

Given the challenges and limitations of performing two plays on the same stage, the set had a (non-working) door stage right, a window flat centre stage, where no attempt had been made for it to appear glazed, and on the back wall a framed painting with below a painted on fireplace complete with blazing fire.  So, I thought, my review obviously isn’t going to rave about the set. Then, as the curtain rail collapses and the painting over the fake fireplace suddenly slips sideways and banisters and table legs collapse do I remember that we are dealing with the Farndale ladies here.  The only fly in the ointment for me was the incredible length of time we sat listening to classical music watching all these “accidents” occur. After 30 seconds or so it lost its impact and people around me were talking about DIY things which had gone wrong in their own homes.

Hosted by the scene-stealing Mrs. Phoebe Reece, the ladies fumble everything from their lines, the props, and manage to unintentionally skip a few scenes that they decide the audience doesn't need to bother knowing anyhow. To make matters worse, the stage crew has a mind of its own, constantly missing lighting cues despite prompting from the cast. In simple terms, it's chaos.

Director Dominic Bright took full advantage of the leeway allowed by the script. His direction was well-rehearsed and well-delivered by the actors.  A stand-out moment, was when the cast played musical chairs with the furniture props which was very funny.

Steering the show as the energetic Mrs. Phoebe Reece was Barbara Gray who displayed an overt enthusiasm and flare for the dramatic. As the self-appointed lead, she gets the opportunity to die several times throughout the show, and each passing became grander (and longer) than the next. What a diva!

Katie Lewis as Thelma the (once again after 14 recounts) recently crowned Miss Farndale, had several great deer-in-the-headlight moments and also had a good feel for her role(s) This was a fine performance. Loved the song and dance routine.

As Felicity, who portrays Pawn the Butler/The Colonel, Carole Gentry did an excellent job, rushing around switching costumes which was farcical when both characters were supposed to be on the stage at the same time.

Donna Bright as Audrey, a character with many faces, threw herself into things with aplomb.  Her pseudo fits of giggles were well controlled and she made a good job of all four of the characters she played. An impressive performance.

Maureen Hutter playing Sylvia/Inspector O’Reilly complete with wonderful spiv-like moustache was great.  The dialogue loop with Thelma/Daphne was a real hoot. 

Add to this chaos the opportunities taken to supply recipes, produce a dreadful slide show of holiday snaps, throw in a fashion show and an audience quiz and the opportunities for fun are endless.  The actors indeed rely heavily on the technical crew to be spot on with their responsibilities on sound, lighting and other effects and they certainly were. 

This type of theatre only works when the director and the cast understand the genre but not only that, they have to believe in what they are doing.  There was no shadow of a doubt that director, cast and technical crew knew and believed what they were about with this production, achieving what they set out to achieve which was to provide the audience with a laughter-filled evening. Congratulations all round.

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