It Could Be Any One Of Us

Surrey Advertiser

Diana Eccleston

This piece of daftness is one of the less well-known plays on the Alan Ayckborne collection but although it doesn't aspire to the comedic heights of some of his plays still has plenty to offer the amateur.

Most audiences enjoy a whodunit and here we have all the ingredients of a typical murder mystery: a dark house on a stormy night, a group of eccentrics, at least a couple of apparent potential victims and a few suspects.

The speciality of this play is that the murderer for each performance is decided by a card game in the opening scene.

“Do come and see it and by all means tell your friends who did. It’s unlikely to be the same when they come,” said the playwright when it opened 20 years ago.

It was more by luck than judgement, I think, that I detected the killer but managed to choose the wrong victim for the little contest which invited the audience to play Miss Marple during the interval and compete for a bottle of wine.

Wallington Operatic had a pretty good stab at the play under Iain Fulton’s direction, but the opening night was a little faltering and I’d have like to see a bit more tongue-in-cheek flamboyance in some of the characterisations.

Norbert Johnston pitched it about right as the beastly Mortimer, failed composer of discordant music who has announced to the family who live in his house that he has willed it to a complete stranger.

The goading and melodramatic laughter were delivered with stagey aplomb and no tears when shed when he got his just desserts.

Laurie Bright always makes me smile and I enjoyed her twitchy failed writer Joycelyn (Mortimer’s sister) trying to keep the peace in the middle of a family from hell. She dropped in her one-liners with fine timing.

Tim Gilbert was a bit low key as brother Brinton, and he could have had more fun with his appearance as a (failed!) artist.

Kelly Garland was Amy, the typical, monosyllabic teenager with angst and Nicola Minchin the enigmatic interloper Wendy, who seemed normal but kept us guessing.

Sleuth on the scene Norris, Michael Sanderson, provided amusing moments as he sniffed after all the red herrings.

NODA

Theo Spring 

Unusually, I believe the play suffered a little having what most drama groups crave – space on stage.  Replying heavily on the built-up mystery and intrigue, the cast had a hard time of it to create the necessary atmosphere when they were so far away from each other.

I appreciate that the flats are in a predetermined position, so I cannot see how this could have been achieved, other than moving the table further in to the room, and making the whole set a lot more cluttered, particularly on the walls.

Using the stairs to the lighting box, as the stairs in the house, was a very clever idea, and the lighting as small ‘asides’ were made on these stairs helped the build-up.

I do appreciate that, where casting is concerned, no director can have his/her ideals in age and Iain Fulton did very well with his team. The difficult pairing was Joycelyn and Norris, where the age gap in reality made belief in their theatrical partnership quite hard.

Attention to detail started off at cracking pace with the sound effect rain at just the right notch and such little points which make a play complete carried on until the marmite, when it became difficult to swallow. I do not know a Marmite eater who can cope with it as thickly spread as it was for the breakfast on Sunday morning! Also, when placing the picture of her, in her case, I do feel that if Wendy had valued it at all, she would certainly have put it flat, at the bottom, underneath her clothes, instead of laying it right on the top to get crumpled as soon as she shut the lid.

Laurie Bright truly captured the weary mother hen side to Jocelyn, as she kept her house as well as the peace. A central figure in the play, her concern for her daughter and brother were clear and I enjoyed her slightly resigned air when talking about, or to Amy.

Michael Saunderson was, as above, too young for the role of Norris and this affected not only his interaction with Joycelyn but made his expose of the plot less commanding. That said, his first entrance with the business of the shows was very well done and his comedy lines were delivered with just the right timing.

I felt that Brinton suited Tim Gilbert. Playing to the character’s weakness brought out the strength in the actor as he revealed more and more his dependence on Joycelyn as he certainly had his mother before that. I found his costume to be more ‘anorak’ than arty, but must agree that his clothes did suit the way he played the role.

Nicola Minchin made an excellent Wendy – it was easy to envisage her three ‘g’s’ and husband at home, and her explanation as to why she would be happy to accept the legacy so suddenly thrust on her out of the blue seemed perfectly reasonable. She kept her character moving nicely along in the plot, betraying her rehearsals only by looking at the door handle before it actually moved, and giving away the suspense that something was going to happen with the door.

Mortimer is a real cameo of a character – out of the Victorian era in thinking and evil with it, Norbert Johnston made him nicely irascible and intolerant, and looked quite splendid in that quilted – well, I would say smoking jacket were it not for the length, but it was most suitable.

And so to the ever-hungry Amy. Kelly Garland gave her attitude and indifference whilst the script’s demands on her domestic chores made her helpful without complaining. These juxtapositions are tricky to combine, but she managed this well, softening just a little at the invitation from Wendy to come and work in the pet shop.

Iain Fulton had obviously worked hard to make a cohesive piece out of this intriguing whodunit and I am left wondering how things out on the other nights as the cards predicted the plot. An excellent directing debut which I hope he enjoyed, and will repeat.