Confusions

Students from ACT’s Foundation In Acting course pulled off an ambitious rendering of Ayckbourn’s quintet of interlinked vignettes, ‘Confusions’. The ACT crew got the humour of arch recorder of social interaction, Ayckbourn, down to a T and the first (‘Mother Figure’) and fourth (‘Gosforth’s Fete’) one act plays in particular, featuring awkward neighbours and an almost Elstree-level farce centred on an aptly washed-out village fete, were fantastic.

The final play (‘A Talk in the Park’) was cleverly choreographed, using apposite, spartan props and neat direction. At the last minute said director, Dylan Brown was called on to play the part of predatory male in the uncomfortable-to-view ‘Drinking Companions’ act; a part he played surprisingly well considering he had to read from a script. All in all and allowing for the to-be-expected, occasional rough edges, ACT can be rightly proud of this company’s first outing and it bodes well for their graduate show to come.

The Nightingale Theatre, 4 July 2012

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