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Cut glass accent polishes the laughs
Game for a laugh: Tom Rees, with (left to right) Marika Farr, Louise Fulwell and Sue Downing as the ladies in his life. Present Laughter The Nonentities The Rose Theatre, Kidderminster **** LET’S not beat about the bush. I have
just heard the finest account of an upper-class theatre accent that I
have ever encountered. Louise Fulwell, as Joanna in the Noel Coward
classic drawing-room comedy, is a joy of crackling accuracy. It does not matter that
she flourishes her cigarette without benefit of the holder that is
usually a sine qua non
on such occasions. The voice is all. It is precise perfection, usually
delivered deadpan. She herself is elegance personified as a woman who
can be excoriatingly candid. This is not for a moment to suggest that she runs
away with Stephen Downing’s excellent production. That would take some
doing, because it is so appropriately peopled with characters who are
alive and special from their first appearance. Joanna is one of the women who come moth-like to
a candle flame, at a time when the infuriating Garry Essendine is
beginning to tire of the charm that they find irresistible. As Garry,
Tom Rees is dynamically theatrical, whatever the emotion he is
expressing at any particular time. For one reason or another, there
always seems to be a woman in his spare room, and it has all got a bit
much. Indeed, one member of his harem remarks that she feels as though
she’s in a French farce – and she’s sick to death of it. All of which
gives the momentary sensation that we have stumbled across a play within
a play.
Also well-rooted in Essendine’s life are Liz (Sue
Downing), the wife he has somehow never got round to divorcing, and
Daphne (Marika Farr), his ever-keen groupie, if we may borrow a word of
which Coward never heard. Both parts are played with panache. The longer it goes on, the more likely it is that
Garry Essendine will sink without trace. Fortunately, as his secretary
Monica, Judy Bassett is usually on hand to steady an increasingly
desperate ship – doing well in a role that is vital without ever
claiming centre-stage. Lynn Ravenhill (Lady Saltburn) and Jen Eglinton
(Miss Erikson) are on the fringes of the fun, with Ms Eglinton exploring
her character’s eccentricities to come up with entertainment of her own. Alex Forty is Fred, the household’s rough-diamond
butler, on surprisingly matey terms with his employer. Dan Taylor is
Roland Maule, the visitor who appears fairly totally barmy, and Richard
Taylor – as Joanna’s husband – and David Wakeman (as Morris Dixon) offer
their own contribution of well-judged exuberance. The first night saw a glove and a brooch
accidentally dropped. They were eventually retrieved deftly and without
fuss. Nobody pretended they weren’t there. These things happen and in
this case they were dealt with appropriately. Full marks. To 18-06-11. John Slim |
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