NEW VENTURE THEATRE: FIVE SHORT PLAYS

How lucky are we to have an asset like New Venture Theatre in our city? Very lucky indeed, not just for the audiences that they attract, the loyal supporters but also for those professional and would be thespians. We all get the opportunity to see and take part in excellent theatre making.

NVT’s season of five short plays is a great opportunity for each and every one of the above, to see, take part and maybe become actively involved. Five plays, five casts and five directors, plays sourced far and wide, some by familiar names and some less so, some darkly serious and some seriously funny.

On this occasion we start with Auto-Da-Fe, a sultry two hander by Tennessee Williams.  Director Ayshen Irfen creates a real sense of the Deep South with minimal setting. Bertie Purchese is stunningly good as the fragile Eloi, troubled and twitching as he reveals what is disturbing him to his all seeing mother, or is she really seeing what is affecting her son. Pattie Griffiths is marvellous in the role, reserved and yet knowing. A great start to the evening.

Next Greg Donaldson with Fade To Black, a dark comedy about death and denial. Mike Everett as Bob Crump is the arrogant deceased being drawn over to the dark side by a trio of minions, not the monocular yellow ones but three black clad sprits of the underworld using a form of physicality closest to commedia dell’arte. It’s an interesting piece of writing delivered with style and clarity.

The Fifteen Minute Hamlet comes next with direction by Goldie Majtas. In the drunken aftermath of a party, a stage strewn with empty bottles and paper cups, a raggle taggle crew of drunken and hung-over youngsters. They deliver a funny and chaotic Hamlet, condensed by playwright Tom Stoppard. I’m not exactly sure what his intentions were but it does make an interesting interlude in this rendering by an enthusiastic and very funny cast who romp through the story, or remnants of it, with comic gusto. I’m no fan of Mister Clever Clogs Stoppard, but I enjoyed this ribald rendering.

After a short interval we get The Pen Of My Aunt. Gordon Daviot’s play of a war torn French community is finely scripted and equally well played. Given our troubled world it also has a sharp relevance. Denise Evans is truly excellent as Madame, a measured and knowing performance. Cody Thacker is equally impressive as the stranger who throws his situation on her mercy and her intrigue. He looks and plays the anxious refugee with such realness, such a sense of right and yet fear, it is both impressive and moving. Fatima Hammad plays Simone equally well and Daniel Sennet as the corporal makes much of his role as the soldier blindly following orders but starting to have doubts. To create so strong a drama in so short a piece is extraordinary and director Dave Barnstorm has worked magic with his cast.

To finish we get a short slice of the wit of Noel Coward. Coward was a master of comedy, rapid fire repartee and searingly funny one liners. Director Ashley Artus drives this home in a pacey exercise in short form comedy. It’s the dying embers of the age of touring music hall and the eponymous Red Peppers are still out there delivering their tired comedy routine. The gags are very much of their time, song and dance, silly costumes and an audience no longer invested in their art. We the contemporary audience realise this when we are taken backstage to witness their relationship falling apart as rapidly as their act has. Ben Pritchard and Sarah Donnelly capture their characters and the sense of period with dingy accuracy. You can almost smell those tired costumes as they change from tawdry jack tars to dapper gentlemen, well almost dapper, there is a charmingly ragged edge to their appearance that emphasises the sense that their art is in its death throws. Ruth Tansey makes a wonderfully imperious and slightly bewildered appearance in the final moments as diva Mabel Grace and Ollie Wilson King takes on dual roles as Alf, the much put upon stage door man and later as theatre owner Mr Edwards, defending the status of his theatre. Crispy Dunt plays Bert who, clearly no longer loving his job or those around him, sets out to spoil.

This piece requires far more staging, lighting, propping and changes than the previous four works but the cast and crew pull it off, and no doubt over this short run they will add pace and panache to the whole. You are led to believe in the opening moments with them struggling through that song and dance routine that this is a comedy. The truth is that it is a tragedy couched in comic complexity.

Given that there are five plays and five creative teams the allocation of stars on this occasion is rather difficult so the award is given across the whole for NVT and their ongoing contribution to the city’s theatre scene.

Andrew Kay

25 July

New Venture Theatre

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