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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Stuart Wishart as Tom, Tony Newbould as Dick and Jonathan Flowers as Harry
Tom, Dick & Harry The Nonentities The Rose Theatre, Kidderminster **** It’s a fact, that at one time the whole
notion of any theatrical farce might have been viewed as ridiculously
extreme. Their stock in trade is based on the formulae of comical lies
and diversions, hidden agendas, cover-ups, dubious relationships, slease
and wrong doing and all of that pretty much sums up the current
political scene. It’s that collective fact that now, in comparison
to our crazy world, makes this very traditional British farce by Ray
Cooney, almost plausible. Co-written with his son Michael this
well-crafted descent into social chaos has as many twists, opening and
closing of doors as Number 10 itself. Tom, Dick & Harry has everything a good farce
needs. Although it’s far from the sexy goings on of other plays, this
begins with Tom and Linda, awaiting a visit from an adoption-agency
official. The situation spirals instantly into madness by the arrival of
one of Tom's hapless brothers Dick, who rents the upstairs apartment of
their home.
His opening gambit is that he has just returned
from a road trip to Calais and now has a van full of contraband he needs
to hide. There’s also undiscovered cargo in a couple of stowaways but
just as Tom takes a sensible hold of the situation, his second brother
Harry turns up. He has hatched a preposterous house purchasing
plan that involves the use of a bin bag of dismembered corpse parts,
obtained from his job at the hospital morgue.
Dick and Harry played by Tony Newbold and
Jonathan flowers also kept up with the energy of their roles, never
flinching, however ridiculous the situation of the scenes became. The unwanted van cargo comes in the form of two
illegal immigrants who both develop another absurd layer to the
increasing chaos. Rupert Boden as Andreas and Beth Grainger as Katerina
had a lot of fun but had little to learn other than stage direction as
they were reduced to some Eastern bloc gibberish for most of the
performance. There was good support in the form of Tom’s wife Linda
played by Hannah Tolley who remains the innocent and totally unaware of
the goings on inside her home. With the arrival of Mrs Potter from the agency, played smartly by Bhupinder Brown, the play descends into the unbelievable with a comical if not surreal explanation of the situation she has stumbled into.
Hannah Tolley as wife Linda and Bhupinda Brown The appearance of Constable Downs played by Dan
Taylor, nosing his way into the action, only helps ramp the atmosphere
of panic. With the final arrival of Boris, a dubious mafia heavy played
by Bob Graham, the end is suitably outrageous but rescues everyone’s
predicament. Ray Cooney’s farce may seem a little dated now
and whilst at times it wanders perilously away from its story line, you
have to forgive the clowning and just enjoy it. There is an element of
the Morecambe and Wise skit about this play where the gags sometime seem
more important than the plot. However with Tori Wakeman, herself
apparently no fan of the form, as director she controls the action with
a strong sense of expert guidance. With our ever increasing strict social sense and
total dismay at the farce of our daily lives, you might not laugh at
everything but you will laugh at something. Even is this play might not be for any Tom, Dick
or Harry this Tom, Dick and Harry might just be for you, with the chaos
continuing to 28-01-23 Jeff Grant 23-01-23 |
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