This riotously funny two and a quarter hour show is being presented by the Garrick Theatre Club, and can be seen at the Garrick Theatre, 16 Meadow Street, Guildford. The performances are every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night at 8.00 pm until Saturday 10^th December. There are matinées on Sunday 27^th November and 4^th December at 2.00 pm.

The scene is the present day, in two nearby London flats.

The stage is divided down the middle. To one side is George and Jessica’s trendy and luxurious flat; complete with white leather couch and contemporary, original paintings on the wall. The other side of the stage is Brian and Hilary’s more staid home, with its unusual wallpaper, a corduroy couch and prints of famous paintings. Designer, Ray Egan has put a great deal of thought into each of the sitting rooms, with many little extra features. He was helped in the construction by Adrian Ashman, Fred Petersen, Owen Davis and Graeme Dick.

The show is stage manged by Graeme Dick and Marion West.

The complex, fast moving script requires slick lighting and sound control – all worked well thanks to Geoff Holt and Mark Owen.

       Middle-aged Brian (Joe Isaia) has the chance of an affair with an attractive young woman, Wendy (Lindsay Cliff), but has nowhere to take her. Thankfully, Brian’s best friend, George (Andrew Govey), comes to the rescue. George’s wife, Jessica (Siobhán Vincent) is away on a work trip in America, and so Brian can use their flat on a Wednesday afternoon whilst George is at his darts match.

     When overweight Brian suggests to his wife, Hilary (Kylie Isaia) that he fancies trying jogging, Hilary is so pleased to see him taking care of himself, that she buys him a bright red track suit for his park runs.

     Brian arrives at George’s flat and finds Wendy, hot and ready – unfortunately, within minutes of his arrival, George’s wife returns home a day early and catches them.

     How will Brian talk his way out of that?

Director, Alice Dale has been part of community theatre, professional theatre and WA TV business for many years. When your brother (Stanley Baxter) was one of the funniest men ever in Scotland, then the genes are bound to help, and not surprisingly Alice’s direction was superb, inventive and slick.

Some of the audience may recall the Whitehall Farces of the 1960s / 70s, with its star philanderer, Brian Rix. Whitehall has always been held as the ultimate producer in farces, and Rix as the best ever, panic stricken lover. This production is the nearest to I have seen to the old days. The script was ingenious, the set superb, the direction perfect and the whole cast unbelievable. The panic stricken faces, the desperate moves, the crouched stance ready to escape, the tremor in the voice – all captured perfectly.

This one of the best structured farces that I have seen. It is fast paced and so takes exceptional actors to carry it off, and that is what we have here – the very best of the best. A must see production.

Presented by the Darlington Theatre Players Inc, at the Marloo Theatre, 20 Marloo Road, Greenmount Hill, Mundaring. This hilarious, two-hour and a quarter hour play – which premiered in 1983 – can be seen on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8.00 until 7^th May. There are matinees on 24^th April 24 and 1^st May at 2.00 pm.

The scene is the 1980s in a USA fishing lodge in rural Georgia.

This set is another jaw-dropping production from the best set designer in the area – George Boyd. Built by a dozen hard workers, including the techs and cast, and working on a minimal budget we are presented with a massive, timber panelled, lounge (convincing painting by Adrian Ashman), a double staircase, a brick chimney, motel reception area and patio doors with rain lashing down outside. As always at the Marloo, there were numerous props to give that special touch of authenticity (Lesley Sutton, Ray Egan).

The sound effects were crisp (George Boyd) and operated perfectly by Belinda Beattie. Several lighting effects, including a lightning storm, were well planned by Michael Hart and David Bain, then operated by Brendan Tobin. There were several unusual – to say the least – costumes required, and Marjorie De Caux was there as always.

       When English SAS trainer, Froggy Le Soeur (Keith Scrivens) has to go to America for a course, he takes along his friend Charlie (Joe Isaia) who has marital problems and depressed. He also suffers from extreme nervousness when in company. In fact, he is petrified to talk to anyone. 

      The two men arrive at Betty Meeks (Jacqui Warner) country fishing lodge. Betty has the usual warm welcome, but it is obvious that she is hitting hard times and having trouble maintaining the guesthouse.

      To hide Charlie’s shyness, Froggy tells Betty that Charlie is a foreigner and cannot speak a word of English. Because of this false assumption, whilst Charlie sits having a cup of tea, he hears several private conversations, including the ‘love secrets’ of the local vicar, David (Rodney Van Groningen) and his fiancée, Catherine (Kylie Isaia). Within hours, further local scandals become exposed.

      Before long, Charlie finds himself being taught English by Catherine’s retarded brother, Ellard (Blake Prosser). Into the house comes a local undesirable, Owen (Richard Hadler) an inbred thug who hates ‘outsiders’. Very soon, Charlie is in major trouble.

The director, Robert Warner and his assistant Joe Isaia faced a major task putting on such an unusual style of comedy. They chose a fabulous cast, including some of Community Theatre’s funniest actors; the chemistry between them was outstanding.

The giggles poured out, with a couple of belly laughs a minute. There were no jokes, it could not be described as a farce, and yet it was one of the funniest shows I have seen in months. Although every actor was perfectly tuned in and each gave a tremendous performance, I am sure they will not mind me saying that it was Joe Isaia – with their help – who nailed it. His expressions and body language had the audience falling about. Superb teamwork.

This is a DON’T MISS production. Hilarious from the opening minutes.

The LP soundtrack of the 1984 film sold 15 million copies. Two of the songs being nominated for Oscars.

This bright and effervescent musical is being performed by the Darlington Theatre Players at Marloo Theatre, Marloo Road, Greenmount each Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evening at 8.00, with matinees on Sundays at 2.00 pm until Saturday 12^th March.

There were no sets as such, but there were some very impressive structures (George Boyd designer) which were beautifully built and perfectly conveyed the atmosphere of the locality. Some were massive, such as the sport’s stadium, terrace seating – which moved around in total silence. Other features include the church entrance, a soda bar and barbeque eatery. The only ‘standard set’ is the minister’s home (props Raelene Cover). There were about two dozen involved in the construction, with a further dozen as stage crew.

The production was managed by Gail Palmer, and stage-managed by Rob Warner and David Bain – most impressive.

       Teenage Ren (Liam Borbas) and his Mum, Ethel (Clare Fazackerley), move from Chicago to the Mid-West, woop woop town of Bomont, to live with Ren’s Aunt Lulu (Jacqui Warner) and Uncle Wes (Alan Markham).

      At Ren’s new school is Ariel (Brittany Isaia), daughter of the puritanical minister, Reverend Moore (John Taylor) and his wife, Vi (Kylie Isaia). Ariel has an obnoxious boyfriend, Chuck Cranston (Blake Prosser), who works at the local garage with three wasters, Travis (Ethan Acott), Lyle (Owen Davis) and Rhett (Alistair Ball). Ariel’s school friends, Wendy-Jo (Suzy June Wakeling), Rusty (Teah Dunning) and Urleen (Charlize Gosnell) try to warn her about Chuck but Ariel will not listen.

       Ren finds himself being outcast by the school Principal (Michele Acott) for being too outspoken. Even local cop (David Seaman) gives him a ticket. The sports coach, Mr Dunbar (Luke Miller) and his wife, Eleanor (Sarah Palmer), treat Ren shabbily because they are Bridge friends of the Rev. Shaw.

       Whilst in Betty’s (Rachel Vonk) ‘Blast’ soda café, shy Willard (Chris Ball) explains the no pop music and dancing policy of the town council. As the trio sing (Georgia Kinnane, Nicola Kinnane and Belinda Beatty) Ren musters his classmates and unsuccessfully demands a senior prom, and so with a group of friends drive 100 miles to an untamed night of liberty at the Bar BQ Club. The Club is a wild place, where Bob (Simon Dreyer) and the cowgirls (Gemma Addison and Eden Sambridge) boot scoot, as the singers (Darin Aqila, Charlie Darlington) chant.

      Can Ren win Ariel’s heart? With the help of friends, Jeter (Billy Darlington) and Garvin (Matt Manning), can anything be done win over Reverend Moore’s mind block?

Other performers include: Steph Shaw, Aaliyah Thompson, Asha Vivian, Brooklyn Kamer, Rebecca Mattison, ​​Channing Whitworth, Laura Goodlet, Nieve Hope, Caitlyn Hughes, Sophie Todd, Jordan Tabb, Emilie Tiivel, Tania Morrow, Clare Smale, Caitlin Walker and Luke Heath.

Suzanne Kosowitz, the musical director, has done an outstanding job. The music from her seven-piece band was well-balanced and complemented the singing, rather than have the poor singers fighting to be heard (as so often happens). The band members were Tabitha Broughton (woodwind), Thomas Felton (Electric bass), Cameron Hayes and Harrison Love (Guitar), Jo Keenan and Daniel Slee (Keyboard) with Richard Pooley (Drums).

With a cast of ‘thousands’, each wearing around four intricate and stylish costumes each, wardrobe mistress Marjorie De Caux wisely enlisted the help of Shelly Miller, Rachel Vonk and Sophie Todd. The result was stunning, plenty of colour and quality, all based in that era three decades ago.

The choreography, thanks to Arianah Isaia skills, was inventive and fresh. With such a huge cast to handle, there is inevitably a couple of actors out of sync, however, this cast – right up to the final curtain – were smiling, fully charged and performing quite complex movements. Even the singers had intricate arm and hand movements. The dancing ranged from romantic waltz, boot scooting, soft shoe to tap dancing.

The sound, designed by Chris Hewitt, Greg Rusha and Dylan Borbeau, was brilliant. The train sound effects (Anita Bound, Lesley Broughton) amazing. The slight echo used on the voices gave them depth, and the ‘dreaded’ headsets actually worked perfectly.

Joy Miles and Shelly Miller’s pulsing light design was in sync with the music, with the choice of colours and brightness levels spot-on. Well done Lesley Broughton, Julie Hickling and Lachie Kessey.

The directors, Joe Isaia and his assistant Michele Acott, had to oversee dozens of youngsters and complicated teching, before they even got to the singing and dancing. Joe selected a great team and it showed. Most productions are lucky to get a couple of good singers and the rest are average. This production had at least a dozen talented singers, and most of them could dance beautifully too.

EVERY single actor was fully rehearsed, and performed immaculately. Congratulations.

This fun musical has drive, colour and vibrancy, try and catch it.

The first stage production of ‘Noises Off’ starred Patricia Routledge (‘Hyacinth Bouquet’) and Paul Eddington (‘Yes Minister’).

Presented by Serial Productions, the quality team renowned for their comedies, who recently brought us the hugely successful ‘Open All Hours’ and ‘Blackadder’; this riotous play can be seen at the Old Mill Theatre, Mends Street, South Perth until Saturday August 29^th. There are two matinees, one on Sunday August 23^rd and the second on Saturday August 29^th both at 2.00 pm.

Serial Productions are generously supporting the WA Heart and Lung Transplant Foundation.

On the reasonably small stage of the Old Mill Theatre, multi-award winning set designer, George Boyd has managed to construct (aided by Liam Kirwan and Brendan Tobin) a two-storey set, which has to be rotated twice in each show. Considering that this old community theatre has no flies, mechanical equipment and limited resources, this is an unbelievable achievement.

On installing the set, it was found that a cross beam holding the theatre roof up stopped the rotation of the scenery. How was this major problem overcome? George allows the audience to see the second change, which took TWO – yes two – minutes to carry out, consequently receiving a massive cheer from the audience. The stage crew of David Seman, Natalie Watson and Owen Davis were supervised by stage manager, Rob Warner.

Act One is a dress rehearsal of a second rate farce, ‘Nothing On’ on the stage of the Grand Theatre, Weston-Super-Mare. It is set in ‘a delightful 16th-century posset mill’, recently updated by the owners who are now holidaying abroad. The house is now available to let.

The set comprises a Tudor-style sitting room, staircase and upstairs balcony leading to the bedrooms as viewed by the audience. In Act Two we see behind the set, as though looking out through the sitting room window to the audience beyond. The set for Act Three is as for the first Act.

   ‘Nothing On’ by Robin Housemonger (a fictional author) is a poorly written, sex romp that is nearing the end of its rehearsals; however, it is still full of fluffed lines, poor entrances and lost props. There is no hiding the fact that this touring troupe has absolutely no talent, nor has the company’s temperamental director, Lloyd Dallas (Peter Clark).

     We, the audience, watch as the whole of their dress rehearsal is enacted.

     In Act One, the telephone rings, Mrs Clackett (Jacqui Warner) the forgetful cleaner, enters the sitting room carrying a plate of sardines. She explains to the caller that the house owners, over-stressed Freddie Fellowes (Keith Scrivens) and his wife Belinda (Clare Fazackerley) are tax exiles living in Spain, and that the local estate agent, jealous Garry (Rodney van Groningen) is in charge of the letting. Just as Mrs Clackett goes into the kitchen, the front door opens and in walks Garry with Brooke (Krysia Wiechecki), the ultimate dumb blonde bimbo who keeps losing her contact lens. Thinking that the house is empty, he has arrived to show this ‘client’ around the property – especially the bedroom!

     Despite the dedicated hard work of the over-sensitive stage manager, Poppy (Kylie Isaia) and her confused assistant, Tim (Alan Markham) are struggling to keep up, as the props go missing and the production staggers on. At the end of the play, an aging burglar, played by an alcoholic ham called Selsdon (Brendan Tobin) breaks into the house. Being extremely deaf, Selsdon tends to miss most of his cues.

     One month later, the company are performing at the Theatre Royal in Ashton-under-Lyne. Act Two is under way for a matinée performance. We are now backstage, so the audience is effectively watching how the bitchy actors’ attitudes change when they come off stage. We become aware of their secret love affairs, the pandemonium of failing props and the panic created by missing actors.

   Act Three shows the end of the ten-week season, by now the company has reached Stockton-On-Tees. The quality of the show has deteriorated, with everyone passing the blame and at each other’s throats. Eventually, these backstage problems spill into the on-stage performances.

There were two excellent programmes (Scott Print), one for the real cast, the second a fun version of the touring troupe’s show.

A farce must have plenty of doors to aid confusion and mayhem, this show has 9 on two levels, and yet the timing of the dozens of entrances and exits was faultless. Props (provided by Lesley Sutton) such as the whisky bottle and the sardines, moved position every 10 seconds, and still the actors’ actions were immaculate, never missing a beat.

Joe Isaias was brave enough to take on the post of production director, but with his being an award winning actor, he co-ordinated the pandemonia, squeezing the humour out of every situation.

Every actor’s performance was stunning, producing the funniest version of this play that I have ever seen. There were jokes and incidents that have completely passed me by in the past. The pace was at a breakneck speed, hardly giving the audience a second to breathe before the next belly laugh. Most of these actors are producers of their own shows; could this be the reason for the perfection?

Within the play ‘Nothing On’, each actor’s on-stage personality was different to their private demeanour off-stage. Garry was a clear and assured actor, but a stammering highly jealous person behind the scenes – Garry (Rodney) had a painful episode that left me cringing. Brooke fluttered, hilariously, like an egotistical yet damaged butterfly. Director Lloyd was trying hard to have an affair, audition for Richard III and still direct his lousy cast.

The superbly constructed script was clever in the way that a minor incident, such as the mention of ‘blood’ could breathe disaster to Freddie. This would then lead to dissonance amongst the others, as they all fell over like skittles. The final entry of Selsdon as the robber was hilarious as he was ‘shadowed’ in every wooden, overacting pose.

There was some slapstick, but not the blatant in-your-face cream pie, but with unlikely props such as the telephone, contact lenses and the ever present sardines. The well-designed costumes ranged from sexy and attractive, to that of the robbers’ and the cleaner woman were all produced by Clare Wood and Jacqui Warner.

The lighting was by Liam Kirwan and the sound courtesy of George Boyd.

This complex play was so slick at every level that it left the audience breathless and yet begging for more. If you love zany, madcap humour or simply admire advanced theatrical skills, then this is the show for you. This will be memorable for years to come. Stunning.

John, who has been a jazz pianist for 50 years, named his play after Spencer Williams’ 1926 Dixieland song, ‘Basin Street Blues’, made famous two years later by Louis Armstrong.

In 1897, New Orleans turned its Storyville Street into an area for illegal, but accepted, prostitution. Being near the French Quarter, it became known as Rue Bassin (Basin Street), due to the land shape enclosed by the peripheral, surrounding canal.

The Darlington Theatre Players present this two hour, lively musical spectacular at the Marloo Theatre, 20 Marloo Road, Greenmount. Performances start at 8.00 pm every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday until the 8^th August. There are Sunday matinees at 2.00 pm.

The set was another ‘George Boyd special’ – does this man ever sleep? The effect was dazzling. It was the interior of a brothel, ‘The Rising Sun’, in New Orleans in 1917. The walls are dark burgundy, and a carpeted staircase on the right, went up to the working girls’ bedrooms. The band is situated in view at the back of the stage.

With George’s sets, when the curtains open, it is the little finishing details that make the audience gasp; such as the stair newell posts have carved lions on the top, the stained glass sunrise above the main door, nothing is too much effort. The gas lamps and other wonderful props (Lesley Sutton, Liz Rusha) gave the final touch of quality.

The lighting design (Mike Hart) was magnificent, truly a professional standard. David Bain and Mike Smale’s operation was sensitive and perfectly timed e.g. the lighting of the lamps really looked as though the gas mantles were warming up. The sound design for the street scene was at a perfect level, and gave excellent atmosphere (designer Greg Rusha, operated by Greg and Leighton Hughes).

       The stage is in darkness, a shadowy figure can be seen descending the stairs with a lit wax taper in her hand, it is Pearl (Kylie Isaia); one of the bordello’s most experienced working girls. No sooner had she unlocked the main door, than her so-called boyfriend, a bullying pimp, Frank (Pearce Patrick-McGrogan) burst in demanding his cut of Pearl’s earning. His cut being most of what she had. The Madame of the house, Lottie (Amanda Minutillo) seemed to have little sympathy; but the reliable bouncer, Wash (Richard Mananga) soon threw ‘The Dude’ out. It was easy to see that Tony (Toby Millar), the piano player felt deeply for Pearl.

       A lusty customer (Robert Beaton) tried to catch the eye of young Rita (Caitlyn Hughes), but even the impecunious old man (David Zuiddam) across the room seemed to being having more success with the girls.

      When a highly intelligent and attractive virgin, 16 yr-old Josie (Sarah Jackson) arrives, Lottie asks her to take over. Not even wealthy rail worker, Gus (Dowal Hall) who comes in for his weekly constitution, could he get pure Josie. Thankfully, he seems happy with the sassy Lulu (Rachel Vonk – wild) instead. On the other hand, when the Mayor (Iain Martin – great ukulele solo) arrives for some light entertainment – watching the slinky, sexy dancing girls (Jessie Ou Yang, Jordan Tabb) will Josie succumb? Or could it be the wealthy French businessman, Auguste (Paul Reed) and his sexually inexperienced son, Henri (Radomir Kobryn-Colleti) who wins her body?

 

The director, Aarne Neeme, has had a lifetime in the theatre. He has been in a senior position at the Octagon, Playhouse, Hole-in-the-Wall and even been Head of Acting at WAAPA, so it is little wonder that he was recently awarded the Order of Australia. Here, Aarne is assisted by Lee Thompson, the pair giving us a truly lively and uplifting show. The cast were coordinated and retained their powerful deliveries throughout this energy-filled show. Most of the songs were instantly recognisable, and pleasantly performed.

Choreographer Premala D. Sangarananda has learnt her art in several countries, and as a result demands the very best from her dancers. They waltzed, skipped, seductively tempted the audience, leapt, high kicked – those poor girls really had to work, but they smiled for every second and were magnificent, congrats to the whole team. The costumes (Marjorie DeCaux, Rachel Vonk) were delightful, from the simple cotton chemises and long frilly drawers, to The Madame’s glittering designer gown. Topped off with their crowning glories, hairstyles and makeup by Nicole Jelly.

Jazz tends to be one of these musical genres that people can take or leave. Mention jazz and folk will think of discordant, cacophonous music, with everyone in the band playing a different refrain, whilst you try to spot the tune. This band, under the musical direction of Iain Martin and John Beaton, gave the audience many enjoyable melodies, most with a light, sleazy, Dixie / Ragtime jazz foundation.

The highly experienced band comprised, on brass, Rob Anderson (trumpet) and Steven Martin (trombone) giving the authentic rasping depth of the blues. Stuart Campbell (saxophone) and Wayne Griffiths (clarinet) joined them on woodwind, then there was John Lee (banjo), John Perry (bass) and Richard Pooley (drums).

With an old upright piano centre stage, being ‘played’ by ‘Tony’; Radomir Kobryn-Colleti was actually playing another keyboard hidden behind the piano. A very convincing ‘duet’.

The final number ‘House of the Rising Sun’ was sung beautifully by ‘Pearl’, delivered from the heart and doubtlessly caused a few audience tears as it reflected on this prostitute’s life story.

This review refers to the opening night performance, a packed house. Not surprisingly, I understand that almost the whole season of this very different play, has already been sold out, so be quick or miss out. A very well thought out and presented musical. Top-quality.