Touch and Go - The Grange Players - 13-22.07.17

The Grange Players

Presents

Touch and Go

13^th – 22^nd July 2017

Just about every actor and director I have met have told me that farces are among the most challenging of productions to successfully stage, not least because on the surface, the exaggerated and rather implausible situations have to appear as impromptu and believable.  It is also challenging for Companies to take on these plays because the genre, with its humour seemingly firmly set in the 1970’s and 1980’s, can seem out-dated to modern audiences.  There is, therefore, a marginal difference between a production that has the audience rolling with laughter or squirming with embarrassment.  So, it is always with a sense of trepidation I approach these as an audience member.

I need not have worried.  The Grange Players have put on a very-well directed, fast-paced, slick and hugely enjoyable evening’s entertainment, where I soon immersed myself in the humour, forgot about how improbable it all was, and remembered that the art of the double–entendre has its place, as long as it is well-delivered.

Of course, there is a great deal of hard work that goes into staging a play that looks effortless and, in the case of a farce, many pitfalls to avoid.  A good production needs a strong script, a talented cast and a skilled director.  To start with the script: with, perhaps, the exception of the Master of Farce, Ray Cooney, few have manged to draw an audience in so that the absurd seems plausible.  With Touch and Go Derek Benfield produces the usual mix of sex, adultery, lies, deception, improbable situations and arrangements going wrong, in a clever script written with economy and fluidity, which compensates for the formulaic approach.  The characters are well-drawn, at least to those of us who remember the early 1980s.  Lovers of the double-entendre will of course enjoy this play, although I must say even in 1982, when the play was written, the ‘coq-au-vin’ pun would have been barely funny, even if used just the once.  Mr Benfield obviously thought this line funny enough to use over and again.

All of this counts for nothing if the cast don’t understand the rules of farce.  In this production the cast work hard to make the characters believable and to ensure the comedy emerges from the situation, rather than exaggerating characteristics or looking for cheap laughs.  The script is delivered with pace and precision, and the second Act in particular draws us in and speeds along like a train, with a nice little twist at the end.  It should also be pointed out that the cast demonstrated a great deal of stamina, which was needed not only to sustain the pace and physicality, but also to endure what must have been one of the hottest and most humid evenings of the summer. 

We first meet the colourful, playful, and ever-hopeful of finding love, Wendy, just about the most innocent of the characters in this play.  Dressed for a night of thrills, Naomi Millard plays the character with innocence and bewilderment as the action unfolds around her.  Keith Hayes eases into his role as Brian, general cad and rather unlikely love interest of Wendy, well.  This role, of all of them, needed to avoid the trap of over-playing, and Keith delivers a suitably restrained and believable performance.  Liz Webster plays Hilary as a seemingly rather calculating character.  She has lovely timing and manages that most difficult task for actors, getting drunk on stage, in a believable and controlled manner.  Rod Bissett shines in his role as George.  One feels as if he has somehow been reeled in by Hilary, and although far from innocent, brings a lot of pathos to the role, in particular when he is exposed in his Y-fronts and shirt.  Finally, Suzy Donnelly as fashion designer Jessica, returning a day early from a work trip to New York, appears completely taken in by the web of lies and deceit woven around her. Suzy adds real depth to the character, and one is never sure if she has really been taken in by the events.  Events at the end suggest perhaps she wasn’t as innocent after all.  All in all, this strong cast brings both range and depth to their characterisation, which is rare in farces.

The Director, Louise Farmer, has put on a polished production.  She understands the genre and has got the best out of a strong cast, allowing them to develop clear characters while maintaining the necessary constraints required by a farce.  Louise also designed the set, which is split to represent the two apartments where the action takes place, with a lighting design that reflects this.  Simple and effective it ensures the pace never drops and the action is continuous.

The audience at this sold out evening at The Grange clearly enjoyed this play.  If you can get a ticket, and enjoy humour circa 1982, you should go and see it.

On until the 22^nd July

The Grange Players - Ladies in Lavender - 16th - 25th March 2017

The Grange Players

Present

Ladies in Lavender

Adapted for the Stage by Shaun McKenna

Directed by Rosemary Manjunath

16th - 25th March 2017

Ladies in Lavender is a lovely, gentle play set in Cornwall in the mid-1930's. We see sisters Ursula and Janet Widdlington's lives turned upside down with the introduction of Andrea into their home. He is found washed ashore by their property close to death and they take it upon themselves to nurse him back to health. It is discovered that Andrea is Polish and was travelling on a boat to try and become a violinist in America before he was swept ashore. He is extremely talented and it isn't long before his talent is discovered by Olga Daniloff who's brother is a world renowned violinist.

Mary Whitehouse gives a wonderful performance as Ursula. She is touching, with a sparkle in her eye. She shows us that even though we may be ageing on the outside that we are still all young at heart and her growing fondness for Andrea is delivered with lovely subtly and grace. There are not many actors who can really tell a story with their eyes but Mary does this with every glance and meaningful stare which is a true talent.

Sandra Haynes who plays Janet is a lovely contrast to the sensitive Ursula. She is 'to the point' and obviously the driving force in the household. Sandra delivers her part with charm and there are some lovely tender moments between the sisters.

There are a lot of laughs within this play and Jill Simkin who plays Dorcas certainly gets her fair share of the funny lines. Her facial expressions alone told a thousand stories and her quickly delivered one liners had the audience laughing which made this a perfectly rounded performance with laughs, sadness and reminiscing.

The rest of the cast were made up of Paul Viles who plays Dr Mead, David Smith as Andrea and Leah Solmaz as Olga. They all gave wonderful performances which made this a truly entertaining piece of theatre to watch. 

The set was designed by the director Rosemary Manjunath and it was extremely well thought out, with the bedroom, sitting room, garden and beach all being present on stage without the need for lengthy set changes which can always take away from the action. I particularly liked how action could be happening in the garden while other characters are doing things in the living room or in the bedroom. This really did make it feel as if you were in the action with them. The lighting and sound by Stan Vigurs and Colin Mears really helped this piece come alive and I can honestly say that I had a thoroughly entertaining evening where a piece of theatre has come together and produced something memorable. So well done to everyone involved.

It would be a shame to miss this play, so get yourself over to The Grange between 16th - 25th March 2017.

Box Office: 07909 036 835

Website: www.grangeplayers.co.uk

Address: The Grange Playhouse, Broadway North, Walsall, West Midlands. WS1 2QB

The Grange Players - Holmes for the Holidays - 11.01.17 - 21.01.17

 The Grange Players

Present:

Holmes for the Holidays

11.01.17 - 21.01.17

The trepidation awaiting a critic’s review can be a daunting prospect. As an actor myself, I empathise with any cast or production team member who would echo the play’s line ‘She was ruthless. She was evil! She was a theatre-critic for God’s sake!’ Be reassured. The ‘Holmes for the Holidays’ team should have no such anxieties: there is much to praise in this show.

Attending The Grange theatre for the first time, any trace of apprehensions I might have held were soon dispersed. This is a space of welcome, a place of shared experience where theatre is enjoyed. The warmth and efficiency of the gentleman manning the ticket desk thawed me as I stepped beyond the reach of the cold, snowy night outside. The auditorium’s rake of comfortable seating was soon filled almost to capacity - no mean feat for any theatre on a night in mid-January. In the half-lit atmosphere of this intimate proscenium venue, an expectancy of enjoyment pervaded before curtain-up.

The venue is pertinent, for this play of two acts, set in the Christmas period of 1936, would not sit half so well in a pared-down, black-box space. It provides a seamless complement to the masterfully tailored set, which supplies both period aesthetic and functionality for essential stage-business.

In many theatre pieces of this nature, the technicals shine when appropriate and effective without being intrusive, and for this very reason can often be overlooked. On this criteria, the show’s sound and lighting design, intrinsic to the play’s telling, were impeccable. Costume and properties were made well to purpose and would serve a several-month run.

‘Holmes for the Holidays’ is the pen-work of ‘the purveyor of light comedy to middle America’ (show programme, citing The Times, 2006) Ken Ludwig, and the director and cast do well to present the piece to a British audience and maintain its distinctive US flavour throughout. A rapid East coast patter between William Gillette (Robert Meehan) and his houseguests is supported by all the cast with fluent accent, manner and interaction. Whilst at times the first act feels a little expositional, by the interval this ensemble immerse the audience thoroughly in the small 1930s world of egos, friendships, insecurities and trusts between actors who strut the stage. The wonderfully executed slapstick, delivered without excess by characters Daria Chase, Felix Gisel and William Gillette (Liz Webster, Sam Evans, Robert Meehan), adds to the humour and harkens back subtly to 1930s comedy styles.

Act two witnesses the Sherlock actor Gillette don his robes and pit his wits to the challenge of solving the case, and here the energy changes: there’s a murderer at large, and the drawing-room banter and revelations are superseded by purposeful activity. This, together with the introduction of Inspector Goring, adeptly played by Suzy Donnelly, lends more of the familiar territory of the who-dunnit and drives the pace to the final scenes.

There are conventions and concepts within ‘Holmes for the Holidays’ that will be recognisable to many actors and, whilst it is not essential to appreciate these to enjoy a performance, it may be a service for any reviewer here to highlight them to a potential audience member. The first scene is brief in nature, and in the spirit of ‘in late/out early’ begins mid-action without preamble at the curtain-call of a particular Sherlock Holmes performance. The piece assumes a conventional linear plot structure from the start. An awareness of this may avoid some confusion.

The prevalence of characters (not actors) taking the limelight and declaiming in the piece may also initially startle. The quoting of famous dramatic pieces, the basking in the approval of peers, all this expression of talent or ego amongst Gillette’s guests seems the hallmark of actors in each others company, and it takes a skilled ensemble to pull this off well. We watch actors performing the roles of 1930s stage actors, and it is good to accept that what they do is credible and naturalistic.

Directed by Chris Waters, ‘Holmes for the Holidays’ runs from 11th through to 21st January 2017.

Review by Anthony Webster

The Grange Players - Bracken Moor - 16.11.16 - 26.11.16

Bracken Moor

The Grange Players 

The Grange Theatre, Walsall

16^th – 26^th November 2016

This is an excellent production of a gripping and ghostly tale set in the 1930s, with surprises, personal transformations and twists on the way, and which draws parallels with current world affairs.

The programme describes this play as “a drama that speaks to us all set against the economic crisis of the 1930’s”.  Set in a large austere Yorkshire house the play opens with mine owner Harold Pritchard (Adam Woodward) and collier John Bailey (Robert Onions) discussing the potential closure of a mine with the loss of 140 jobs.  Harold and his wife Elizabeth (Julie Lomas) then play hosts to their old friends the Averys from London. They haven’t met for ten years following the death of Pritchard’s son in terrible circumstances at the age of 12, after which Mrs Pritchard in a state of shock and grief withdrew from life.  All the memories resurface when Avery’s 22 year old son Terence (Rob Meehan), who was very close to Edgar, starts experiencing nightmares whilst sleeping in the dead son’s bedroom. 

Although set in the 1930s this is a modern play, first performed in 2013.  The Anglo-Greek playwright Alexis Kaye Campbell sets out an ambitious vision, and draws our attention to parallels between the events leading up to the Second World War and the current poor state of world affairs.  Campbell strives to do this by creating tensions in the plot concerning the rise of fascism, failures of capitalism, the gap between the political left and right, between mysticism and materialism and along the way touches on oppression, emancipation, feminism, male roles and expectations, and even throws in a bit of Freud for good measure.  There is a lot going on!  Underneath then, this is a deeply political play that is concerned that humanity should not repeat historical failures and looks at how this might be achieved.  Whether Campbell quite succeeds in his ambition is less certain.  Certainly there is plenty of personal awakening and transformation going on here.  Maybe, however, his ambition is too big and, without giving away any spoilers, the dramatic device the playwright uses to resolve the various tensions is unconvincing.  Campbell may have achieved a bit more by saying a bit less. 

Notwithstanding this, the Grange Players succeed in delivering an excellent production.  The writer has created characters which under less experienced hands could have been clichéd and Director Rachel Waters ensured that the characters remained restrained and drew out excellent performances throughout.  Julie Lomas particularly was superb as the grief stricken mother burdened by guilt and wishing only for death.  She played the role with delicious understatement which hinted at underlying madness.   Adam Woodward as her husband Harold managed the no-nonsense self-satisfied gruff northern persona well and overcame the challenge of playing an older character.  Rob Meehan as Terence Avery takes on a very difficult role with great aplomb, throwing himself whole-heartedly into this complex character.  He convinces us that this young, worldly, university drop-out has wisdom and idealism way beyond his years, and who can provide hope, albeit in a rather manipulative way.  He was at his best and shone in an excellent scene with Mrs Pritchard.  Samantha Allen played the role of Vanessa Avery with real conviction and moved between compassion and anger with brisk ease.  There was less scope for expression for Les Wilkes as antique dealer Geoffrey Avery, with a character who seemed a little baffled by the proceedings, but he was a well-judged foil to some of the hysteria going on around him.  Robert Onions as John Bailey was completely authentic as the left-wing and compassionate collier trying to save the jobs of his men.  Dr Gibbons, played by David Weller, was needed to add credence to the underlying premise of the play, and a bought a respectful perspective on the supernatural which allowed the plot to develop.  Leanne Brown as the maid added a suitably hysterical fear of God atmosphere to the proceedings.

The cast was supported by an excellent set by All Round Property Services which achieved the right 1930s austerity, as did the authentic costumes by Rosemary Manjunath.  The sound and light design, by Stan Vigurs and Colin Meers, was spot-on and made an important contribution to building the atmosphere and tension. 

Overall, there were few flaws in this excellent production of an interesting, challenging, haunting and thought provoking play.

The play runs until the 26^th November.

Reviewed by Martin Walker

Sense and Sensibility - The Grange Players - 20.07.16 - 30.07.16

Jane Austen's

Sense & Sensibility

Adapted by Jessica Swale

July 20th - July 30th 2016

Directed By Louise Farmer

Sense & Sensibility is one of Jane Austen's best loved novels. It was written in 1811. 

Jessica Swale adapted the novel into a play and directed it in 2014 at The Watermill Theatre.

It is a charming story of the Dashwoods who are forced out of their home after their father died leaving all of his fortune to a male heir, his son John by his first marriage.

John's wife, Fanny, played by Liz Webster, was a nasty piece of work and declaired that the Dashwoods needed to leave their beloved Norland Park and they ended up in a cold Devonshire Cottage which was kindly offered to them by Sir John Middleton (Andy Jones).  Mrs Jennings, played by Jill Simkins made it her mission to marry the three Dashwood girls off and it's not long before a dashing Mr Willoughby, played with charm by Matt Cotter appeared on the scene to capture the heart of Marrianne Dashwood who was depicted by Stephanie Evans as a girl who lives for the moment and wears her heart well and truly on her sleeve. Her sweet nature and lovely singing voice also captured the heart of Colonel Brandon, nicely played by Sam Evans. His portrayal of the overshadowed love interest was delicately displayed. We also had 2 further Dashwood children, Elinor, the oldest of the three who kept her love for Edward Ferrars (Tomas Frater) hidden after she discovered that he was already promised to Lucy Steele (Libby Allport).

Elinor was played by Rachel Holmes and she gave a touching portrayal of a girl with far too much on her young shoulders. Her scenes with Edward were delicately portrayed and both gave some very touching portrayals.

Sam Allen gave a strong performance as Mrs Dashwood, the wife left with out a husband, fortune or home. Her expressions throughout told a thousand stories.

Katie Allen was a delight as the youngest Dashwood Daughter, Margaret. Her innocent, funny, full of life performance was touching and extremely entertaining.

One character to mention was Mr Palmer, played by Dan Payne. His glum, dry one liners captured the moment brilliantly and the audience couldn't help but laugh every time he opened his mouth or gave a knowing glance.

The show is full of pace and humour. There is a nice distinction between light and shade and Louise Farmer has directed this piece well.

Lighting depicted the different times of day well and the set worked well with different locations from rooms to outdoors.

The only slight flaw in the performance had to be the scene changes. The show has many scenes and changes in venue and it did slow the production down slightly. This was opening night though so there was time for the changes to quicken up and also to be a little less noisy.

Overall, this was a well put together production and is well worth going to see.

The show runs until 30th July 2016

Edith in the Dark - The Grange Players - 11.05.16-21.05.16

The Grange Players

Presents

Edith in the Dark

By Philip Meeks

May 11th - 21st 2016

 

We are greeted with a strikingly eerie set, dimmed lights and sinister music which sets the scene nicely for the events that are to unfold in this sometimes dark and sometimes humerous production.

 

The production was set in the house of author Edith Nesbitt who had escaped from her husbands Christmas Party and was entertaining a mysterious, handsome guest, Mr Guasto. He had gatecrashed the party to meet Edith and asked her to read to him from one of her stories. He particularly wanted to hear from The Railway Children or one of her children's tales, but Edith preferred to read from one of her early works, her horror stories.

 

These stories were filled with sadness and loss which disturbed the mysterious young man.

 

They were joined by the Housekeeper, Biddy who decided to join them in the ghostly stories armed with a jug of punch!

 

As the evening unfolded, the stories got darker and darker with each character taking on the characters within the stories until ending with the discovery of the mysterious Mr Guasto's identity.

 

The Grange Players set the piece perfectly. The set, Ediths attic writing room was dark and uninviting with cobwebs and dying flowers scattered around. The lighting created subtle shadows as if ghosts were watching over them and the sound was perfectly in time with the action and really gave the piece a sense of dispair and sorrow.

 

The actors, Samantha Allan (Edith), Rob Meehan (Mr Guasto) and Lynne Young (Biddy Thricefold) played their parts well and went in and out of their different characters within the horror stories well, which allowed the audience to distinguish between their real characters and the characters in the story.

 

Please do not be put off this production with the thought that it is completely full of darkness, as there are some extremely funny one liners which breaks the tension up nicely and is a great piece of theatre to go and watch.

 

The show is directed by Rachel Waters and runs until 21st May.

The Grange Players - See How They Run - 13.01.16 - 25.01.16

The Grange Players

Presents

See How They Run

By Philip King

13th January - 23rd January 2016

See How They Run is a Farce first performed in 1944 to entertain the troops and made its West End debut in 1945. It was later made into a film in 1955.

It was set shortly after the Second World War in the sleepy village Merton-cum-Middlewick at the Vicarage of Mr and Mrs Toop. The story is one of miss identities, miss understandings and missing uniforms!

The set had a lovely feel of homeliness with warm, rustic colours and plenty of doors for cast members to race in and out of. The lighting brought the room to life with wall lights casting shadows, drawing you into the living room and you could almost feel the warmth coming from the fireplace.

The costumes were authentic to the period and all blend nicely with the surroundings.

The staging of this piece reflected the dialogue - fast paced, lively and joyfully charming. There was great light and shade and the comedy was elegantly and perfectly delivered.

Suzy Donnelly played the ex professional actress Penelope Toop who is married to the Vicar Lionel (David Weller). She gave a striking performance and her eyes told a thousand words. When her old acting parter Clive (Rod Blisset) appears in the Village, Penelope's fun loving nature came to the forefront and the scene was set for a very entertaining evening!

David Weller as Lionel was the perfect Village Vicar. His soft approach was in contrast to his enthusiastic, full of life wife. His unfortunate encounter with an escaped German prisoner (Les Wilkes) brought his calm nature into question as he raced around the house in his underwear brandishing a metal poker.

Rob Blisset was a 'full of life' Clive, who was convinced by Penelope to take off his army uniform and wear her husbands clothes to go to a local theatre production of 'Private Lives' which they had performed in a few years earlier.

Liz Webster was the local gossip and dedicated church goer Miss Skillion. A drop of alcohol had never passed her lips until that night when a scene she had witnesses made her turn to the cooking sherry! After that she was no longer the stuffy lady disgruntled at Penelope decorating of the pulpit but a full of life, legs everywhere drunk who had to be put into a cupboard to keep her out of the way!

Rob Onions was the bumbling Humphrey's who had come to the Village to take the Sunday Service but ended up being embroiled into the evenings goings on. His one liners were wonderfully delivered and made the audience chuckle out load.

Andy Jones played Penelope's Uncle, the Bishop who arrived to stay with the couple that evening. His placid nature soon turned into bewilderment and it was extremely comical seeing his transformation.

Lorraine Samantha Allen portrayed her part of Maid Ida with charm. Her rolling of the eyes and little asides were perfectly undertaken. She was the downtrodden maid that had an eye for the men and she really got under the skin of the character and allowed the audience to empathise with her in her failed attempts to stop the misunderstandings from taking place.

The confusion was all ironed out at the end by Chris Walters as Sergeant Towers.

This is a well written play that was stylishly performed by The Grange Players.

The show runs until 23rd January 2016.

The Grange Playhouse, Walsall - The Importance of Being Earnest - 15.07.15 - 25.07.15

The Grange Playhouse, Walsall

Presents:

The Importance of Being Earnest

By Oscar Wilde
.

15th - 25th July 2015

'A trivial comedy for serious people' - First performed on 14th February 1895 at the St James's Theatre, London, The Importance of Being Earnest has to be Oscar Wilde's most famous play. Over the years it has had dozens of famous performers portraying his delightful characters and it has been made into a film on 3 occasions.

The play is set in late Victorian London and touches on the social obligations of the time and how they were perceived by the young and old generations. Through comedy, Wilde can poke fun at the way society is run and how the younger generation gets round their social obligations.

Martin Groves has put on a splendid production. His direction was elegant and flowed well across the stage. He also created the set design which was constructed in such a way as it allowed the backstage crew to change from Algernon's Flat, to the Manor House Garden, to the Manor House Drawing Rooms with ease but still gave a good visual effect.

Lee Davies, who played Algernon Moncrieff and Rod Bissett who played John Worthing worked well together and their banter and bickers just rolled off the tongue as if they had been together for years. The chase around Algernon's flat over a cigarette case and the muffin argument around the Manor House Garden was nicely choreographed, full of pace, direction, but still audible, with good diction.

Sam Allan gave a lovely portrayal as Lane, Algernon's Servant who entertained the audience with her occasional despairing looks at heaven and sneaking a drink from Algernon's drinks table while no one was around.

As with many productions, Lady Bracknell was played by a male actor. David Stone delivered this part with the correct contempt, snobbery and mannerisms for the period and at times you even forgot that it was a male actor underneath the outfit!

Phebe Jackson gave a powerful performance as Lady Bracknells daughter, Gwendolen. She had great poise and elegance, mixed in with a youthful glow. 

At the Manor House we met Cecily Cardew, the beautiful young ward of John Worthing. She was played by Natalie Ashcroft who delivered a sensitive, full of life character eager to see meet the man of her dreams.

Also at the Manor house, we have Miss Prism, Cecily's Governess (Gwen Evans) who has been hiding a dreadful secret for 28 years and has a soft spot for Rev Canon Chasuble (Brian Lycett). The two have some lovely moments and allowed the audience to believe there would be a romance sooner or later.

Making up the rest of the cast is Christopher Waters as John Worthing's Butler, Merriman and Luke Groves as his Footman.

The cast all gelled well together and allowed the play to go along with gusto and pace. The performance was in 3 acts with 2 intermissions, one being the usual 20 minutes and one 5 minutes which allowed the final scene change to be done with ease behind the curtains and passed with a blink of the eye.

This play tells a simple story of misunderstandings, social standings, secrets, double lives and love, but all rolled into one it makes for a great evenings entertainment with lively acting, wonderful costumes and all in all a great deal of 'drama'!

The Importance of Being Earnest runs at The Grange Playhouse until the 25th July 2015

To book tickets, please call: 07909 036 835 / 01922 625 100

The Grange Playhouse

Broadway North

Walsall

West Midlands

WS1 2QB

Review by Jayne Rickard

The Grange Players - Bette and Joan - 05.11.2014 - 15.11.2014

The Grange Players

Presents

Written by James Greaves and first appearing at 2011 Edinburgh fringe festival, director, Claire Armstrong-Mills has slightly adapted and extended the play to include her own vision and appear as an amateur stage production. Bette and Joan addresses the notorious feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

The 81 year old Davis is approaching her final days and to help guide her into the afterlife is her old nemesis and co-star Crawford, under the order of Hollywood gossip columnists and rivals, Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. While flitting between the present and past scenes between the two, as Bette's life flashes before her eyes, you understand that the Davis and Crawford feud crossed both professional and personal boundaries with stolen lovers to stolen limelight.

Those that are unfamiliar with the works of the duo should not expect to leave The Grange any more educated, the piece plays on the knowledge already available and does not give any more insight, although this does not dilute the entertainment factor of the production. The dialogue offers some very comical moments that are delivered with impeccable timing from Denise Phillips as the strong, independent and feisty Bette Davis as she makes her stabs at Susie May Lynch who plays the glamorous Joan Crawford who sees herself as a 'star', not an actress. I cannot stipulate more that the performances of the cast can not be faulted, Phillips, Lynch, Serafinas and Plumpton have obviously put everything into transforming into their characters, unfortunately this was let down by so much of the technical.

I always enjoy the use of pre-recorded material against the live action, it can be very effective, if used correctly, an example of this is snippets of Davis' acting work, which is a heartwarming contrast to the bitter Davis we see on stage. Sadly a lot of the time we found ourselves leaning in to listen more closely to the muffled sound effects and sometimes the projection was off focus, bounced around the stage or came in too soon or too late. It seems that the basic vision was there but it had not been followed through, missed or delayed cues, which led to long, awkward silences and actors not being fully lit. I would hope that these problems have been easily and quickly fixed, by doing this, the audiences can concentrate on the quality of the performances and direction rather than the hiccoughs.

Review by Ellie Scandrett

The Grange Theatre, Walsall - The Ladykillers - 10th - 20th September 2014

The Grange Theatre, Walsall

The Ladykillers

10th - 20th September 2014

The rights for The Ladykillers have recently become available to Amateur theatre groups, and the Grange Playhouse is one of the first places in the West Midlands you will get to catch it. A stage adaptation of Ealing’s 1955 film, written by Grahame Linehan who is famous for bringing us such television comedies as Father Ted and The IT Crowd. This true British black comedy is full of tricks and every gag is pushed to its full potential, resulting in one hell of a production!

When sweet and naïve Mrs Wilberforce put an advert for a room to rent in her local news agents she didn’t expect for it to be snapped up so quickly. Unknown to her by a gang of five pick-a-mix criminals posing as amateur musicians; led by charismatic and charming Professor Marcus, plan to unwittingly include Mrs Wilberforce in their security van robbery. When she finally cottons on to what they have done, they pass around the responsibility of ‘getting rid’ of her, while the thuggish Romanian refuses to do the deed. Her only friend is a diseased parrot, General Gordon, hidden under a blanket, that terrifies the brutes and personally left me dying to see what it looked like! Will the gang play Mrs Wilberforce as badly as their broken instruments or will she stop them in their tracks?

After searching through the crowds of people for my seat I took in the striking and intricate set, the detail that Martin Groves has put into his design only furthers the fantastic production and the crew’s hard work is something to be applauded! The unexpected entrances and exits had the audience’s eyes darting across the stage and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had gone that extra mile to create the brick wall effect outside the front door of Mrs Wilberforce’s, that took us all back to 1950s built up King’s Cross, London. The dusky pink lampshades assisted the lighting, producing a warm, homely atmosphere and the sound of the pipes clanking and the speedily approaching train shook every teacup in the house, gave the lopsided set character.

The piece was superbly cast, Dexter Whitehead captivated the audience with every flick of his ridiculously long scarf as the seemly educated and flamboyant Professor Marcus. One-Round, played by Joseph Hicklin, who is always saying the wrong thing and confusing his under cover story, grows fond of the aptly named Mrs Lopside and is a loveable, and hilarious character. Mary Whitehouse is a wonderful Mrs Louisa Wilberforce, leaving the audience wondering whether she is as batty as some of her stories are or if she really has an ulterior motive, her pace made the piece flow and her comic timing fuelled much of the laughter. In addition to this, Alex Barzdo as the bumbling Major Courtney adds further comedy with a humorous fascination with women‘s clothing. Christopher Waters plays Louis Harvey, the aggressive and cynical Romanian, with a strange fear and suspicion of old women. Rod Bissett is, too much amusement, the criminal with a cleaning obsession, armed with a pot of colourful pills. Finally, Les Wilkes plays Constable Macdonald, stumped by the robbery but heart-warmingly puts up with Louisa’s stories with a smile, he also looks fabulous as a women! 

The entire audience was laughing from the start until curtains down and tickets are very much in demand, I am not surprised, the cast and crew have worked hard under the direction of Rosemary Manjunath, whose vision had been brought to life. Congratulations to all involved, I can’t wait for the next production and I hope that it’s as popular as The Ladykillers has been.

Review by Ellie Scandrett