The Unfriend

It was good to be back at Waterbeach School and to have a welcome from director Kattreya. I always wonder about seating round tables but we had a good view from where we were sat and Kattreya kindly brought us welcome drinks and a quick chat.

The stage was set with two chairs and two large white panels with the tabs close behind, together with a large screen set to the righthand side of the pros-arch. All became clear, the action of the play briefly takes place on a cruise ship and this is where we meet, in a sort of prologue Peter and his wife Debbie and fellow passenger Elsa exchanging contact details, the scene changes with the removal of the panels and the opening of the tabs to reveal Peter and Debbie’s family home.

This change of scene and the revealing of a substantial box set was smoothly done, to say a box set does not do justice to this well-built house interior. A fully furnished and decorated living room/kitchen complete with front and rear doors, windows to front and rear garden (through which they could both be seen), a large fridge in Kitchen area, a door to ground floor cloakroom and staircase to the first floor all of which were used throughout the play. The furniture was straightforward and used to effect, all props and set dressing were most appropriate and fully represented a family living room. Well done to the set builders and designers and to the set dresser. The screen was used most appropriately to not only display the days of the week to show time passing but also to display the Google search images. Good sound and lighting throughout and great sight lines.

Richard Dodd as Peter and Anna Tuck as Debbie gave very convincing portrayals of a husband and wife and as parents of teenagers. They had a great rapport with each other, their interactions and language were well delivered, the little looks, the disbelief at what the computer searches were showing the interactions with the other characters were excellent. This was completely enhanced not only with realistic relationship with their son and daughter but their fraught relationship with their unwelcome guest Elsa. There was also the relationship with Neighbour played by Chas Barclay. There was a cleverly written script and they used this to their advantage, showing tension, humour, frustration as required and made full use of the space available to them, this was especially usefully when they did not notice the neighbour invading their space.

Christine Easterfield as Elsa gave a great performance, keeping her accent throughout, she had full command of her role as a supposed serial killer, the way she delivered her lines was innocently excellent, keeping completely friendly and interesting and very amusing whilst some of the interaction with the family was great fun and kept the audience guessing as to who her next ‘victim’ might be. The role was played with style and fun she also had a good selection of costumes which kept her busy throughout. Chas Barclay gave a great characterisation of the boring neighbour, a monotone voice, a rather mechanical movement and dull boring clothing, keeping his irritating behaviour throughout the show and when he fell dead on the table at the end was his moment.

The teenager son and daughter were well portrayed by, unsurprisingly teenagers Catherine Hawkins as Rosie and Henry McDonald as Alex, these two gave great performances and interacted well together, with Elsa whom drew them out of themselves, and with their ‘parents’. I particularly liked Alex’s plaintive cries of mum which were varied and true to life and good for him happily appearing in Lycra cycle wear as required, I presume, by the script. David Morris completed the cast as PC Junkin, a small role that had us wondering if he was going to be another victim.

All cast had excellent diction, great timing and a sense of togetherness and pride in the show, well done to Kattreya in her casting and directorial choices and for bringing alive an entertaining play and evening’s entertainment.

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