The Unfriend

It was a great pleasure to return to The Nonentities Society and their production of ‘The Unfriend’, well written by Steven Moffat. Initially set upon board ship Peter and Debbie are approached by and befriend Elsa, a Trump loving widow from Denver, USA. They agree to stay in touch, as you do, never expecting to actually meet again, particularly in London and when Elsa invites herself to stay, they look her up online and learn the apparent truth about her, but too late to prevent her visit.

The opening scene on board ship is simply dressed with three wicker chairs but when the curtains are drawn back to reveal the set for the remainder of the play, the excellent kitchen and living room area of Peter and Debbie’s family home is depicted in great detail to superb effect.

Elsa played by Sandy Tudor has great presence and is a self-confessed ‘people positive’ person who only has to talk to another passenger called Benjamin in the buffet queue, to establish his life history! Peter (Martin Salter) hates Trump and tends to have anger issues (he’s not altogether happy unless he is angry) He and wife Debbie (Jessica Schneider) try to resist Elsa’s invitation should they ever be visiting Denver, but Elsa is insistent in having their email address. (Even the audience response to this idea created a knowing reaction!)  The trouble is, Peter and Debbie are too polite - Both Salter and Schneider are superb, and having established on line that Elsa is allegedly a killer (well-illustrated with a projection of the laptop screen on the rear wall) we watch their ‘rehearsal’ of how they will handle the situation with Elsa, with Debbie being the more forthright, and then how it all goes pear-shaped in practice.

In the mean-time we meet teenagers, son Alex (Matthew Wilson) and daughter Rosie (Evie Langford); Alex who is lazy and constantly listening to music on headphones, oblivious of anything else, and Rosie who thinks the parents are selfish and this is affecting her life.

Along the way, a nosey neighbour played by Bob Graham dips in and out of the scenes, usually to chase unanswered messages to Peter about a garden project or moan about Alex’s loud guitar playing, or parking issues. Even when the neighbour is talking to him, Peter is concentrating more on his phone and can’t even remember the neighbours name after 10 years next door! Graham’s character of the nosey neighbour is excellent; with a passive aggressive trait Elsa is quick to recognise.

Initially Alex and Rosie are against Elsa staying – Alex claiming she would be another obstacle in his life – but Elsa is quick to improve their respective relationships, and as a result they become more considerate and loving towards their parents. Elsa will even cook their meals which gives Peter some concerns! What could possibly be the problem?

In the opening of Act 2, the neighbour is sitting almost motionless during a very long, brave but effective and amusing silence. Alex and Elsa have been doing up Alex’s bike and he is actually exercising and Elsa and Rosie have been having a lot of friendly chats together. Debbie is still worried, but admits Elsa is actually improving their lives together.

With some surprise a policeman (P.C. Junkin played by Dan Taylor), wanders through the kitchen helping himself to the fridge and we are led to believe that Elsa has been feeding him. We learnt earlier that prior to arriving at Peter and Debbie’s house, Elsa claimed to have visited ‘Barnaby’ but found out he had died. We are now told that Elsa actually stayed with Barnaby for a week and he was found murdered and Elsa is helping with enquiries!

Peter is now worried that the policeman may have been poisoned by Elsa and the scene when Taylor goes to the toilet feeling unwell was quite hilarious as Salter tries to inspect the loo for evidence! At various points including this one by Salter, he and Schneider had some well-acted long speeches and this was added to by Tudor when announcing her departure from the family home. Was Elsa a murderer – there is one final twist for which I will remain silent!

Without exception the cast were excellent and all added to the many funny moments throughout, deserving the ovation from an enthusiastic audience. I really enjoyed it all.

Bruce Wyatt Regional Representative.

I was delighted to meet Bob Graham as chair of The Nonentities Society and the opportunity to herewith formally welcome all to the NODA family.

The Unfriend was most certainly an excellent introduction. Bruce has above spoken about the set. This was superb in every detail including details in rooms off the main acting area such as a downstairs toilet (used for some lavatory humour). My congratulations to all involved in the set construction. The use of a wall for us the audience to see what the actors were seeing on their laptops was also well done, these were well cued as were sound effects.

The cast were all well cast and worked and supported each other throughout resulting in a polished performance.

I for one can not wait to see you again very soon and look forward to other productions.

Andy Brown, Regional Councillor NODA West Midlands.

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