GHOST
WRITER
Theatre
at Baddow at the Parish Hall
26.09.17
Prolific,
popular playwright David Tristram came up with his first comedy
whodunnit “just to help out my local am-dram group”. And he's
been helping amateur companies all over the world since.
I've
been involved with a few in my time, but I still struggle to see the
point of staging a play written specially for non-professionals. Even
a village cricket team might
hesitate before choosing a game which featured under-arm bowling with
a tennis ball.
This
“comedy thriller” is fifteen years old now; it features a
playwright who is visited by his late wife's ghost. She persuades him
to write a play, with not even thinly disguised portraits of their
fellow actors, in order to “catch the conscience” of her
murderer. Shades of Hamlet ? Yes, and copious quotation, too – the
play begins with an attempted suicide and
that famous soliloquy.
The
multi-layered complexities and tortuous twists are well handled by an
accomplished cast in Jacquie Newman's polished production. There are
laughs along the way, a spine-chilling moment just before the end,
and some excellent effects: the moving portrait, the poltergeist
typewriter. A
little more music might have helped to
establish the
ghostly mood, and
to
cover the passing of time in each act.
Roger
Saddington gives
a sympathetic account of
the author, living alone in an attic bedsit with a closet full of gin
and a drinks cabinet full of clothes. His landlord, played
with style and wit by Tonio Ellis,
is flamboyant Alex, who offers moral support to his lodger, and has a
nice line in flouncing out of the door. Elvira
to Saddington's
Charles, the blithe spirit here is Claire Lloyd's elegant, ethereal
Ruby. Jade Flack makes the most of the [allegedly] drab and mousy
Glenda, while two
terrible
thespians are milked for all they're worth by Stephanie Yorke-Edwards
as the surgically enhanced Frances, and Terry Cole as
the bri-nylon-bewigged Hedley.
There
are some very funny lines – the acronym sequence, for instance –
but also some padding. The plot is convoluted, and takes some
following in Act Two especially. I was confused by the absent suspect
Howard.
Plenty
to keep the loyal TAB audience entertained: ticking off the
Shakespeare references, wondering who poisoned poor Ruby's drink, and
whether the culprit will be unmasked before Old Nick claims her
immortal soul ...
