The audience were invited to ‘sit back and have a laugh’ as Newchurch Drama Group unveiled its new farce, According to Rumour – and that’s exactly what we did.
The simple but clear and effective set opened in chaos: empty cans and spilt breakfast cereal littered the floor of Carter Sutton’s flat, and in the middle of it all was a groaning Carter, a delightfully amusing victim of the morning after the night before. Nick Turvey captured Carter’s mix of bewilderment, frustration and vague attempts to get his life in order, as he negotiated a phone call; the appearance of a strange scantily clad lady; his best friend emerging with knickers on his head, and the prospect of an imminent visit from his sister and mother. All of which on their own provide all the elements needed for a farce – add in the discovery of a large amount of money in the fridge and you have the recipe for, as promised, lots of laughs.
Deborah Densham vamped it up well as Kitty Kat, from her first appearance clad in Carter’s dressing gown, and not much else, and as we learned more about her, her character developed. She provided a great contrast to Heather Johnson’s Emma, Carter’s rather staid (or so it appeared) sister, an object of desire for Carter’s friend Roger, until her engagement to Logan was revealed. Heather played Emma with just the right mix of assertion and confusion as events tumbled out around her – but did she know more than she was letting on?
More secrets were to be revealed around the character of Logan, played by Mark Stewart, who was introduced as a police detective, in charge of the investigation into the theft overnight of – guess what – £50 000. Could it be the very bag of money currently residing in Carter’s fridge? And what explanation can Carter come up with?
Just as Carter was working out what to do with his apparent windfall, the local postman arrived with a parcel… and promptly got involved too. Phil Burland’s Ashley was a highlight, especially when he later arrived at Carter’s flat ‘undercover’ – as a postman…
To add to his woes, Carter’s disapproving mother Harriet turns up with her twin maids. Terri Burland gave a lovely comic turn as Harriet, at first in perfect overbearing mother mode, but showing a very different side to her character as the plot progressed, to Roger’s alarm. And Lewis Pavey was in danger of stealing every scene as he portrayed Roger, another character watching events spiral out of his control as the flowers and love note he intended to use to woo Emma are open to very different interpretations….
Lesley Sutton completed the cast as Maxine and Martine, Harriet’s twin maids – and goodness, she needed some energy to portray these two – no sooner had one gone out of one door than the other came in on the other side of the stage – one of the biggest laughs of the night was Harriet calling for one after the other had just exited, to be told ‘She’s busy!’ – indeed she was!
As expected in a farce, the story became more and more complex, confusing and hilarious as it progressed: some missed lines on the first night did slow the pace a little but the audience were led further and further into a plot involving… well, some unexpected developments. To say any more would be to give the story away – and I don’t want to spoil the enjoyment of the myriad twists and turns of the plot – suffice it to say almost no one is exactly who they appear to be and they all know more than they appear to – but to find out more, you’ll have to see the play yourself – so go along to Newchurch Community Hall and, as we were invited to do, have a laugh!
