Twist

Report

Author: Hazel Hole

I had a lovely welcome by Front of House team, Vicky and Ted Tearle and had several discussions with the Director, Alex Bass.

Twist is a comedy stage thriller involving six actors, three male and three female. The action takes place in the flat of David Woods and his wife, Sarah Sexton. The set, designed by Alex Bass and Terry White was very attractive and well built by Terry White and the set constructors. It featured the living room of the flat, with an entrance door at stage right and a dumb waiter/rubbish chute to the stage left. This last would be useful for disposal of dead bodies during the action !

The action started with the tune “If You Go Down To The Woods Today” which was poignant and just slightly sinister and snippets of this were heard at various points throughout, sometimes to mask stage and props changes.

David, played by Charlie Vaughan, was a rather bored accountant and would- be novelist who decides to write a biography about his bitchy wife, Sarah,(played by Hayley Favell) who is a well known actress in a TV soap. David decided that his novel would likely be more successful if he murdered his wife, Sarah. Charlie delivered this part with great skill and just the right touch of arrogance. Hayley was excellent in her role, flouncing around the stage and trying to monopolise the action.

I loved the role of Mrs Beck, the nosey, irritating “busy body” of a landlady and Janet Wood excelled, always interfering and gossiping with whoever was in the flat. Into this rather chaotic household walked Hannah Van Lee, whose only involvement thus far was due to a baggage mixup at the airport, where her case had been taken by David accidentally and she had his. Kayleigh Murray played this role as a somewhat bewildered young woman, by chance involved in a wider plot. Her South African accent was impeccable.

Simon Todd played David’s brother, Robert, who had a somewhat shady past and was involved in the plot to murder Sarah. He was the opposite to David, rather rough and ready in his dealings and was the focus of attention several times as he had been deposited into the dumb waiter, supposedly dead.

Finally, Frank Bye played Inspector Root, about to retire from the force and buy a boat. He also had a shady past and was not averse to some blackmail. He was well cast and kept the surprises going with an unexpected twist at the end.!

This was very well acted throughout and all the actors held their roles skilfully.

Stage Manager, Tracy Lias, ensured that props changes were carried out promptly and with the minimum of delay.There was a large clock, slightly off stage and this gave the timeline to the plot, with someone just seen moving the hands from time to time !

Lighting (Robin Glander) was good with some interesting effects, Sound (Alex Bass) achieved the right volume throughout with noises and gunshots where appropriate.

Costumes ( Gwen Porter and Teresa Dale) were appropriate and relevant to the period and characters.

All in all, a great evening’s entertainment and certainly there were so many twists and turns in the storyline. The audience enjoyed the production very much, as I did.

Well done to Director, Alex Bass and everyone involved in any way.

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