Royalty Theatre
18 September 2012
The Royalty is my local amateur theatre and I am more than a little ashamed to admit that until tonight I had never set foot inside it. A light-hearted comedy was the lure that finally enticed me across it's threshold. First impressions count for a lot – staff obviously spotted that we were newcomers to the theatre and they made us feel very welcome.
And so to the play - it opens with a couple calmly eating, while an argument takes place off stage. Charles and Madge (Scott Henderson and Anna Snell) have been invited to dinner by Rupert and Sarah (Paul Dunn and Abbi Newton). Unfortunately Rupert has just discovered that Sarah has been having an affair. What he doesn’t yet know is that Charles is the other man. The situation is made worse by the unexpected arrival of Sarah’s mother, (delightfully played by Irene Lathan) and father (Chris Young).
Just as the audience is settling down to enjoy the awkwardness of the whole situation, a new twist is introduced.
Kindly Leave The Stage is actually a play within a play and there are even more affairs going on in the actors’ own lives. Comedy ensues as the “play” disintegrates and the actors begin to verbally attack each other, and physical violence is threatened. One actor however is left in the dark about the situation. Edward, (a whisky soaked ageing Shakespearean actor, who just happens to have invited his new agent along to watch the show) enters on cue and acts his part oblivious to the fact that life has taken over from art.
So that’s the plot. It has all the ingredients, as the programme says, of a good 1970s sit-com. It is a well written, funny play and I would love to be able to say that it was brilliantly performed, but sadly, it was not, quite. I think each one of the cast had moments when they shone – a well delivered line, a knowing look, a carefully staged gesture, but there were a few too many missed lines, and the prompting really shouldn’t have been loud enough for the audience to hear. Notable performances came from Irene Lathan and Paul Dunn, and I did wonder whether Edward was drinking real whisky from that bottle, so convincing was his drunken entrance. On the whole, I’d say they were short by about a week’s worth of rehearsals, so by the end of the week they may well have clinched it.
Go along and support your local theatre. Kindly Leave The Stage is as least as entertaining as X-Factor, and costs less than a night in the pub!
Kindly Leave the Stage runs until the 22nd Sept.
Denise Sparrowhawk
Denise, again wonderful writing. Although I would hate to lose you as a guest reviewer, you seriously need to consider doing your own..or at least try to update your own blog a little bit more..!! Too good to keep away.
ReplyDeleteThink of the freebies..!!
How easy/hard for you was it to be critical..?? I find it quite easy now, but in the beginning I wanted to impress without upsetting the apple cart, my reviews of Day8 Productions (Whitley Bay) taught me that you have to be critical, and not hide behind the free tickets and the odd glass of vino..!! saving face would just be ridiculous.
Let the criticism be cast out of you tho this time next week.. haha
Michael xx
Just realised that I reviewed Paul Dunn in Calendar Girls last week..he was really good in it, glad that he was one of the ones that you mentioned as being notable.
ReplyDeleteMichael
thanks for this Mchael .. and no it wasnt real whisky Edward Frobisher x
ReplyDeleteHa! In which case excellent drunken acting...
DeleteI find it very difficult to be critical but I do try to be honest and fair. There were good parts but my overall feeling was that they weren't quite ready. We had a good evening and the play was funny but it lacked a certain sparkle. I had never been to the Royalty before so had no baseline to compare. It wasn't brilliant but it was fun, and I will go back again if something interesting catches my eye!
ReplyDelete