Ian Toulouse as Harris,
Ellie Ball as J and Alex Howell as George burst into song
Three Men in a Boat
Mint Theatre Society
Stonnall Village Hall
****
The Mint Theatre Society is a small
travelling theatre company and as such, their productions have to
literally pack up into the back of a van.
There should be no expectation of large elaborate
sets, lavish costumes and truck loads of technical gadgetry. Whilst
performing in village halls and social clubs, Mint offer great
performance without the frills and their production of Three Men in a
Boat at Stonnall Village Hall is no exception.
Audience seating is informal, not traditional
theatre style. Instead the audience sit around small tables, laid with
table cloths and vases of fresh flowers, with about half a dozen chairs
around each table. The venue has a lot of large windows and despite
being curtained, the room doesn’t really darken as the lights go down.
This not only means that the audience may not be fully focused on the
stage action, but the actors have the added pressure of being able to
see the audience and their reactions, giving the possibility of
distraction on both sides.
This is rapidly becoming Mint’s unique selling
point. They are mastering the use of alternative venues and the
fringe-like quality of their productions is now somewhat of a trademark.
With nowhere to hide, their performances have to be spot on.
Adapted from Jerome K. Jerome’s well known novel
by Jack Babb, the script light heartedly tells the story of three self
proclaimed ‘overworked’ friends (and Montmorency the dog) as they boat
up the Thames encountering a string of disasters. Eventually, after
being thwarted by the weather, they prematurely abandon their expedition
at Oxford.
The stage is set with three dining chairs, a
stool and a couple of blankets draped across what appear to be tables.
There are two large arras at the back of the stage leaving the audience
to consider what lies behind the arras! In front and to both sides of
the stage are two screens (one of which is beautifully manufactured from
three rustic, old doors).
Costumes give a nod to the period and are
suitable to the type of production, although the addition of waistcoats
and cufflinks may have added to the appropriateness and believability.
Props were generally well chosen, other than a very shiny and extremely
modern sauté pan.
The minimal furnishings on stage are cleverly and
unobtrusively moved around by the cast to suggest the various settings
of the parlour, the pub, the riverside and the boat itself.
The strong cast is creatively and well directed
by Liz Daly. Ellie Ball as Jerome is exceptional; she never falters and
captures the masculine mannerisms and movements beautifully. Alex Howell
as George is wonderfully foppish, with his well groomed, waxed moustache
and hardly a hair of his long locks out of place (except when his
hairbrush has been packed ready for the boat trip), he portrays his
character with finesse. Ian Toulouse does a fine job of capturing
Harris’s skill of ‘being busy doing nothing’ and confidently leads the
audience in a rousing sing-a-long of ‘Two Lovely Black Eyes’.
David Daly provides much of the humour with his
perfectly timed sound effects and his interpretation of the numerous
characters that the pals encounter along their journey. It is Daly’s
extremely fast costume changes that reveal the necessity of the two
screens positioned front of stage. With his high energy and comic timing
David Daly is somewhat of a scene stealer. It would of course be quite
wrong ‘to say nothing of the dog’; keep an eye open and see if you can
spot Montmorency as he runs amok in the audience after an incident with
a hot kettle!
This quirky, entertaining production is well
worth taking a punt on.
Further performances on 20th and 21st July at
Aldridge Social Club
Rosemary Manjunath
14-07-18
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