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What: Comic Potential
Where: St John's
Hall, Mortimer
When: 30th April, 1st, 7th & 8th
May at 7.45 pm
How much: £6.60
Box office: 0118
933 2583 |
The prospect of sitting in a windy village hall
sniffling through an amateur production of an Alan Ayckbourn
would ordinarily have reviewers sighing in despair.
Yet
there is something about Mortimer Dramatic Society's
production of Comic Potential that leaves a very good taste in
the mouth. There are several reasons for this. Primarily there
is apparently a hotspring of acting talent to the left of the
A33. It's quite a demanding text for an amateur company to
attempt, requiring the lead actress to leap between wildly
different robotic personas quite literally at the flick of a
switch. This is achieved with lightning grace by Helen Sharpe,
who manages to balance the hollow mimicking of cliches with
the process of becoming which her character undergoes. It's a
tough part to execute while staying likable, and it is
impeccably done.
Among the others, it would be
salutary for the cast of London
Suite to take some accent coaching from Tom Shorrock's
thoroughly persuasive turn as a weatherbeaten American veteran
director. The rest are uniformly enjoyable, not a weak link in
place, even parts which might go missed like Megan Bush's
efficient and convincing trio of Mother/Wife/Dress Shop
Assistant.
Perhaps inevitably, it's not all gushworthy.
The cast, who apparently included a couple of (really good)
stage virgins, sometimes had difficulties with lines. There
are some sizable monologues in the play, so it is easy to
forgive them when the timing and performances are this
enjoyable and moving. There were also a couple too many lines
played away from the audience - a little reworking of the
blocking would fix that.
The play uses the sci-fi-ish
metaphor of android actors to muse on themes like what makes
us human, what is love and the seeming creative impoverishment
of television entertainment. There are even some mild swear
words. Not perhaps what some of the more dignified members of
the audience were expecting, but at that beautiful moment
where the chilling Carla Pepperbloom (Sarah Clark) gets a
custard pie in the face, it's impossible not to enjoy a
healthy belly laugh.
This is partly due to the text
setting this moment up with all the architectural grace of a
cathedral, but equally due to the production. I found myself
favourably comparing the range of talent on offer at Mortimer
Dramatic Society's village hall production of Comic Potential
with the Rep College's offering of Pride
and Prejudice earlier in the week. There's not much in
it, but it's determined in the end not by the excellence and
professionalism of those involved, but by the Rep not quite
managing to engage convincingly with an unwieldy text. Wonders
never cease, eh?
Four jelly babies out of
five.
love and kisses,
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