Date

12th April 2018

Society

Marlborough Dramatic Club

Venue

Brentwood School

Director

Patricia Staley

Report

Author: Tessa Davies

As always, I was made to feel very welcome by the Front of House team as I was shown to my seat.  Rather a small audience which is typical for the opening night, I hope that the audiences were larger for the following two performances, as this was an excellent production.

There were only six members of the cast and they were all strong performers.  Jacqueline Parry played Sheila Wendice and she captured the character well. Paul Bell played her husband Tony and we quickly learnt that he was the villain of the piece!  Paul is a newcomer to Marlborough and I hope we will see more of him in the future.  Matthew Jones played Max Halliday, Sheila’s old flame, newly returned from a year in America and trying to rekindle his relationship with Sheila. Roy Hobson played Captain Lesgate very well, Roy has a very expressive face and one of the joys of this venue is that we can see the actors faces clearly.  Keith Morgan played Inspector Hubbard and had the pleasure of the denoument.  Harry Morrison played Sergeant Thompson, largely off stage!

This play is a bit different, in that we know who the real culprit is from quite early on, so it was a question of how he gets to be exposed.  I must admit that I did spot the crucial action that lead to the final exposure of Tony Wendice, I just couldn’t work out how it fitted in!

The cast were very well rehearsed with no discernible hesitations or prompting, and this is something that we have come to expect from the high standards that Marlborough have.  The play ran smoothly, although I found the long blackouts between scenes rather slowed down the action.  I could only spot one where there might have been a reason due to costume changes.  This is a very sedate play, but I do feel that it could have been paced a little quicker to be fully effective.

Scenery was, as always with Marlborough, outstanding and the attention to detail is legendary.  Costumes were appropriate, and the lighting and background music completed a very entertaining production.

My thanks again for the hospitality.