Unexpected Item in Bagging Area & Black Comedy

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It is hoped that the audience’s appreciation of your efforts will have given everyone a lift and encouraged you to greater achievements in the future and that the observations made by the reviewer will prove helpful in improving future productions.

Report by Angus Sheppard-Hughes SW Regional Representative District 16

Well, as this is my first time reviewing this society, I must say how wonderful it was to arrive and be greeted so warmly by members of the Actonians. It is such a joy to come to these smaller venue’s but inevitably leave feeling like you’ve just been immersed in a world much bigger than the space you are sat in, and the joy for me is that we were transported to 2 worlds rather than 1!

‘Unexpected Item in Bagging Area’

Considering there was going to be 2 productions in 1, I was unsure what to expect from the scenery and staging going in, but being greeted by a makeshift black box studio, dressed like a supermarket staff room was not on my list. Nevertheless, it was appropriately suited for the first play and laid out the fundamentals for the play ahead. The Direction was appropriate and well suited for the piece, although at some points it felt static but not in a bad way, it’s just because that’s the way the writer had written it.

Edie was clearly a grounded and well-rounded character who had much experience working in a supermarket, being very empathetic and apathetic at the same time which is a talent. In all honesty, I’ve met quite a few Edie’s in my life, someone who goes on a rant every other sentence and spurs people on to have an opinion about something. You had a great accent and was clearly spoken. Overall, a wonderful performance.

Janice at the beginning of the performance you had a slip of the tongue and stumbled over a couple of words, but don’t worry, this didn’t distract at all from the performance and I always believe its about how you recover from a slip up and you did this so naturally, not making a big thing of it and just carrying on, I’ve known some professionals who couldn’t do that so very well done. You played the character very dry and continuously started Edie off on one of her rants (which isn’t hard to do) and you were an important part of the workplace group of friends. Most importantly you looked like you had a lot of fun, and that is equally important.

Kelly was a sweet and very religious character, almost to a fault. A kind and helpful lady who is instrumental in bringing Dawn in and making her feel like she was at home. Even though your character spent a while off stage, you made a great impact on the stage too. A slightly naïve character who clutched their cross every time you got upset; you gave the play its softer edge which was wonderful to witness.

Dawn, for a while I was unsure whether there was going to be another character as it was just the three employees for a while, but then you came onstage and were the picture of a typical adult who came face to face with a self-checkout in the mid 2000’s. Married to a conspiracy theorist, you shared your partner beliefs about technology with the three work colleagues which, yet again, set Edie off on one of her rants. I felt you really added to the piece, and it was obvious you got into singing and dancing well at the end too.

‘Black Comedy’

It wasn’t a secret that I loved this play before coming in, because I told anybody that asked me and you did the entire play justice, just how Peter Schaffer wrote it. Its not an easy show, with lots of little idiosyncrasies not normally associated with plays, with one big difference (which I won’t spoil for anybody reading this review) that sets the play apart from any other. Also, its not an easy play: a lot of on stage set changing; most of the characters are on stage for the entire time; its not short even though it is one act; and every character is very different. The Direction did all of this justice, and clearly worked very hard with the lighting and sound technician to get it just the way you wanted, and it paid off.

Brindsley Miller never left the stage, well actually, you left but could still be heard and had the hard job of moving all the furniture on and off the stage. You had a very clear and accurate accent of mid-70’s London, not too posh and not too common. One small note for you is that I would perhaps show some restraint in getting to that panicky/over-the-top/highly energetic place. By this I mean that you started off at an energy level of 9 and left yourself little space to grown and become erratic. By no means was this bad, because it wasn’t, but it may have leant better to the comedy over a longer period of time rather than looking for laughs earlier on. Nevertheless, well done as this is not an easy character to play.

Carol and Colonel Melkett were your typical upper class 70’s snobby family. Carol had the biggest character arc of all in my opinion, starting off looking like Twiggy but ending up like the bird lady from Mary Poppins. It was a delight to see this transition and watching it play out. On the other hand, you had the Colonel, who was truly obnoxious and knew what was going on with Brindsley from the beginning. Some great physical comedy from you, setting up the comedic gags for others to get the laugh from, not an easy job, so very well done!

Miss Furnival and Harold Gorringe were the nutty neighbours of Brindsley, of which both of them (badly) hid something from everybody else. Miss Furnival was a wonderful drunk, much like Carol you became increasingly dishevelled, increasingly drunk and increasingly funny. You gave the correct reaction every time each blackout came on and jump scared the audience at times too. Whereas Harold was “hiding” his affection for Brindsley, causing my favourite moment of the whole play where Clea grabbed Harold and Brindsley’s hand and asked Harold to guess who he was holding, immediately saying “Brindsley”. I howled with laughter! Brilliant acting both of you.

Clea came in later on, but made a huge splash in this world. A colourful character in more ways than just clothes, Clea raised some hell in this upper-class apartment and wrecked everybody’s life who she came across but in a very funny and immature way. Your Irish accent was very good playing the cleaner and making Brindsley’s life hell! Just a joy to watch.

And finally Schuppanzigh and Georg Bamberger were minor characters but nonetheless you were important to the storyline, and because you were only in it for a small amount of time it lent to the comedy well causing more confusion amongst already confused characters.

Overall the two pieces were well produced and directed and gave a brilliant performance to those in the parish hall. Tremendous job all, well done!

These comments solely reflect the view of the representative and can only relate to the performance seen.

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