This two-hour play can be seen at the KADS Theatre in Barber Street, Town Square Centre, Kalamunda each Wednesday, Friday and Saturday until 28^th May.

For any new people in the area and potential audience members, may I suggest that your beautiful posters and first-class website mention which theatre the show is at, and where the theatre is situated?

The scene is the year 2014, in the shabby lounge room of Herringbone Manor in Sussex. Due to encroaching poverty, the buildings have fallen into disrepair, with many of the artworks and treasures having been sold off. The set is the work of Richard Woolman, Bill Weighell, Paul Hodges and the designer Geoff Rumsey. The stage manager is Liam Rogers.

       Act One – The pedantic and painfully overbearing, Lord Alfred Herringbone (Paul Anderson) is reading his ‘Times’ and sipping on a whisky. Meanwhile, his tolerant wife, Lady Penelope (Marsha Holt) tries to ignore Alfred’s demands for perfect syntax. Their aging butler, Wick (Geoff Rumsey) is now a luxury they can barely afford, but as the Wicks family have been attendants and loyal servants to the Herringbones for centuries, they keep him on.

       On returning from holiday, their daughter Caroline (Rachel Vonk) suggests that they contact her friend Alyce (Natasha Smith) who works as a producer’s assistant on a TV show, dedicated to saving old manors. Will she be able to help? What will she unearth?

 

     Act Two – We find ourselves back three centuries at the beginning of the Herringbone dynasty, where the first butler, Wicks (Les Marshall) takes care of handsome, debonair Amberley Herringbone (Paul Reed) who is being chased by a gypsy girl (Natasha Smith). When he rejects her, she puts a terrible curse on the House of Herringbone for generations to come. Perhaps antiques expert, Justine truelove (Charlotte Weber) may hold the answer to the misfortune.

 

The two stories are both very funny, the first Act was slick and worked well, however, the second Act suffered from the ‘Curse of the Herringbones’. With only days to go, two actors had to withdraw due to severe illness; unfortunately, this left the second story under rehearsed. A little bit of script editing would also help, but it was a good storyline and well thought out.

Paul Anderson gave a hilarious, supercilious performance, with Martha Holt brilliant as the frustrated, long suffering wife – great chemistry between the pair. Geoff Rumsey was perfect as the present day, gracious Wicks with all his subtle quirks.

Quite a complex lighting schedule designed by Don Allen and operated smoothly by Tiernan Stevens. Julie Hickling’s soundscape was operated by Jason Millman.

Having the author direct his own play can be a risk, but Bob Charteris has had plenty of experience both on and off the stage, and with this very good cast he did extremely well.

The two-hour performances run nightly, for one week only, until 7^th March. Curtain up at 8.00 pm. There are matinees on Sunday afternoon 1^st and 8^th March at 2.00 pm.

Excellent Bio Box operation by Sue Lynch.

‘An Unwritten Page’ is a glance at one man’s hopes and dreams, by local playwright, Angela Pritchard. Val Henry caringly directed this 25-minute well-structured play.

      Ben (Kit Leake), disabled and in a wheelchair is about to celebrate his 40^th birthday. Two very different friends (Cathy Parr, Patrick Harvey) arrive to bring him happiness and fond memories, and help him through this ‘traumatic’ mid-life birthday.

The novel premise of the play is unusual and well presented. The dialogue did not flow too well, whether it was the actual writing – it was a complex and clever topic to tackle – or the variable performances I am not too sure. However, the play was a great idea and good fun.

‘That’s What Friends Are For’ is a romantic comedy by prolific writer, Bob Charteris – from north of the river! He may be inexhaustibly fertile in his plays, but you can always be assured of a novel storyline, a twist and with ample dry humour added.

     Helen (Judy Davies-Moore) is mentally alert, but terminally ill. One of her few visitors is her best friend, Irene (Di Ryman), a lass she has known most of her life.

    Her husband of many years is the loving and caring, Tom (Willy Smeets), who tries hard but is a boring, semi-capable cook. Helen’s biggest worry is what will happen to Tom if she passes away.

The play is well directed by the playwright, Bob Charteris. There is strong chemistry between the very capable actors, and you can sense the emotions. Fascinating and enjoyable.

‘Under The Bright Sun’ is by playwright, Norm Foster – Canada’s most popular writer of light dramas.

      Oddball, Ernst (Cameron Leese) thinks he is God’s gift to women, and is standing at the bus stop outside his house watching the talent walk by. A smartly dressed businessman, Jake (Max Maxville) arrives. Jake is waiting for his wife, Joanne (Kirstie Francis) because they have an important meeting arranged.

      When nervous Violet (Cassandra Gorman) reaches the bus stop, it becomes apparent that each person seems to have a mental block regarding even their immediate past.

This is an extremely funny play, totally new in concept. The conversation could be confusing, but with the well-structured dialogue and the outstanding direction by Jay Shaw, the whole play brought laughs from beginning to end.

With a fairly inexperienced cast, skilfully depicting very different characters, the director was taking a risk; but they bonded superbly and gave very fresh and hilarious performances all-round. A tricky play to present, direct, and act, but this team were wonderful.

A good fun night out, highly recommended.

The stage setting for all of the plays is a black backcloth and several pieces of well-chosen furniture. The lighting for all shows is by Jacob Anderson, the sound by Ryan Perrin.

‘Deadly Relations’ is the latest, 50-minute play written and directed by local lad, Bob Charteris. His plays are usually comedies, with this being his first mystery / thriller – but still with a few chuckles thrown in.

        A middle-aged man, Mr Owens (Alan Bascombe), is pouring himself a stiff drink as he and his secretary (Gael Campbell-Young) await news. The doctor (Alan Brock) has been called and is in the bedroom attending Owens’ dying wife. Soon the doctor announces the tragic news that Mrs Owens has passed away. The couple are stunned – the wife was so young.  

      No sooner had the doctor left, than the doorbell rang. It was a police inspector (Ron Arthurs) investigating a hit and run, a couple of weeks earlier.

     A few days later, just as Mr Owens is getting a little grieving time, a smartly dressed, officious woman (Lynda Hunt) arrives at the home.

 Bob has produced a fun script, with good dialogue. At the end of each scene of this quirky one-Act play, he throws in a surprise or red herring. The audience loved it.

‘Screaming Inside’ is a superbly written, 35-minute piece, by an accomplished writer, Sean Byrne. Directed by Sean Byrne and Jason Pearce.

        It is now some time since teenage Alison died, and her mother (Dale James) is drinking a little more than she should – to help her cope with her loss. She explains her feelings and the emptiness of her new life. She seems to get little compassion from her husband, who is more like a mute ornament in the corner of the room.

The story threads are well blended and the amount of skill involved is undeniable. Directing a 35-minute monologue is very difficult, as one tries to keep up the visual interest and find different tasks for the actor to perform, nevertheless, Sean and Jason Pearce have conquered this challenge.

The acting was first class, although with so much drapery around a little more voice projection would have been helpful.

Sadly, the final result was very heavy going with little light relief. You know when you ask someone how he or she is feeling and they then go on for 35 minutes, telling you in great and intimate detail every ailment known to man, ennui develops rapidly. I felt the same with this play.

A huge amount of talent, highly respected, plenty of admirable qualities – but with little likely public appeal. My eyelids drooped.

‘Stones’ is the second, 30-minute part of this pigeon pair for the above play. Another monologue, again written by gifted Sean Byrne, and directed by Sean Byrne and Jason Pearce.

       It is now the turn of the husband; Steven (Gino Cataldo), who, deep down has also been shattered by the death of his daughter. However, he is tackling the problems thrown at him with a very different approach.

Another fine performance, with the monologue cleverly written in a more masculine style. This contrasted perfectly with the mother’s sensitive and emotional approach.

Many of the comments for the last play are applicable to this one.

The performances are nightly at 8.00 until Saturday 2^nd August, with a 2.00 pm Sunday matinee.

‘At Home with the Herringbones’ is a very funny comedy / mystery by local playwright and actor, Bob Charteris. Bob also directed it.

It is a typical evening in the lounge of Herringbone Manor. 

     When the syntax pedant, Lord Herringbone (Paul Anderson) inherited the family estate he was a wealthy man. However, with the massive running costs, Lady Penelope (Fran Gordon) and himself have had to cut back on staff, and are now down to a cook and their doddery, inebriate butler, Wick (Peter Flannigan).

     Their house is crumbling around them and their daughter, Caroline (Alexandra D’Ulisse), is worried about their future so has asked a friend, Alyce (Georgi Ivers), to call around and have a chat to her parents.

This is a delightful story with several good story threads, all working very well. The dialogue is clever, with each character having distinct characteristics. The play flows well and the cast delivers the humour with aplomb. The pace was slightly off, but this was a first night, and I know the cast have the skills to correct this. Good chemistry, and assured performances. Fran Gordon was particularly good as the downtrodden wife.

‘The Audition’ was written by American playwright, Matt Thompson. It received a nomination for the ‘Best Short Comedy of 2000’. Here, it has been directed by Stirling’s stalwart, Christine Ellis and her young assistant, Teale Harrison.

        A community theatre is holding auditions for its next production – ‘Medea’. The officious stage manager (Teale Harrison) is in charge. Her assistant is poor, intimidated Robin (Moira Barker) who doesn’t have the slightest chance of doing anything correctly. To the stage manager’s chagrin, attractive, enthusiastic Kelley (Tiffany Kennedy) arrives early. She is followed by a mime artist, Question Mark (Prea Cunningham) and an effervescent, bouncy girl, Jules (Neve Haverscroft), both of whom cause the SM nightmares.

       When M. R. Irving (Gray Harrison) arrives for his audition, this young man seems to have had classical training and speaks with a perfect English accent. He is followed by a latecomer, a lookalike for Shirley Temple (Lexy Latto).

A very young cast, the oldest being about 15 yrs., were remarkably self-assured. They nailed their parts perfectly. They sang, danced, delivered comedy and spoke clearly with confidence. A delightful piece.

With such young talent as this bubbling along, some of the adults should be worried for their own future. ‘Never work with children!’ – These are kids ANY adult would love to work with.

A most pleasant night out with both plays being enthusiastically received by the audience.