"Play On" by The Bonington Players

Bonington Theatre.

"Play On" is the story of a theatre group trying desperately to put on a play, "Murder Most Foul", in spite of maddening interference from a haughty authoress who keeps revising the script. Act One is a rehearsal of the show, Act Two is the near disastrous dress rehearsal, and the final act is the actual performance in which anything that can go wrong, does go wrong! It doesn’t help that the cast is extremely disgruntled, and the playwright accidentally deletes the entire sound effect board. All brilliantly good fun for the viewer.

There are some pieces of theatre that I just can't wait to get home to write about, and this is one of them.

Written by Rick Abbott, this is one of the funniest plays that I've seen in some time; very similar to "The Play That Goes Wrong" or "Noises Off". The audience were having proper belly laughs at the characters and the script, which translates to the talents of the actors.

Aggie Manvillle is the stage manager within the play, played by Abi Hemmings. Now, for anyone who isn't quite sure what the job of the stage manager is, this play gives you a pretty good idea, as she races round the stage making sure everything and everyone is where they should be. A wonderfully frustrated and hectic performance by Aggie, accurately played by Abi.

Geraldine “Gerry” Dunbar is the play within a play's Director. Again another frustrated soul is Gerry, brought to life by Kate Purdue who spends much of the play running up and down the central steps of the theatre itself, shouting from the back, sitting in the front row seats and disappearing behind the sets for caffeine shots. 

Adrian Bacon plays Henry Benish who is playing Lord Dudley and Laura Harding plays Polly Benish who is playing Lady Margaret in the play's play put up with a lot. Henry is often getting his foot trodden on or hit in the groin by a chair by his in-play wife, and Polly is forever the butt of jokes about her size - all very un PC. It's when the play is presented on opening night that the real comedy emerges as both go to pieces, especially Henry with a dose of stage fright. 

Both Adrian and Laura though are wonderful playing these characters as it's always more difficult to play something the opposite that you are trained to do. For example, Les Dawson's piano playing was terrible but he was an accomplished pianist so to go against what you should be doing to do something badly is an art form and all of this cast seem to have perfected this particular art form.

Marla "Smitty" Smith is played by Hanna Fletcher. "Smitty" is playing Doris the Maid. Abbott seems to be very generous with the comedy, sharing it out for every character and there is a wonderful, and very simple piece of comedy played out by "Smitty" where the front of her maid's hat is just slightly droopy and this causes it to flop over her eyes. Simple but comedy gold and Hanna works this so well.

Saul Watson, played by Wayne Hill, is the actor within "Murder Most Foul" playing Dr Rex Forbes - I hope that you are following all of this! Along with the character Billy Carewe, Saul gets to consume quite a bit of the stage wine, and as you can imagine, the script sounds a little different to what it should sound like. There is nothing funnier than an accurately played drunk, and when the added comedy of trying to get your words in the right order goes wrong, you really can't help but laugh.

Billy Carewe, played by Christian King not only is the slightly tipsy partner in crime to Saul, but he also has to make Billy, playing Stephen Sellers a proper hammy actor with staccato movements and over enunciated words. His proposal of engagement to Violet Imbry's character Diana Lassiter is another wonderfully funny piece of acting. I've seen Christian before and his flair for comedy is something that I have always noted, and this role highlights his comedic talents.

Helen Holbrook playing Violet Imbry playing Diana Lassiter is a great foil for Christian with their act being art reflecting real life, within the play, role. Go see it if you can't fathom out what I mean. 

Louise Peary is the stage technician within "Play On" and is played by Gennie Price. Louise simmers throughout until Phyllis manages to wipe all of the sound effects from the console and then she explodes, but wouldn't you if it took you hours and hours to compile all the effects for the play and programme them all in the right order. Louise does wreak her revenge though at the end!

Phyllis Montague is the playwright who has written, and re-written, and re re-written "Murder Most Foul" who constantly interferes with the running of the play as well as the script. This wonderfully funny role is played by a wonderfully talented Jenny Chatten

Directed by Chris Gardner who has all the ingredients for a marvellous farce blended in perfectly. Great pace in this one and he has extracted some wonderful performances from his cast.

Set Design by Tony Tomlinson, who also stage managed "Play On", and there was an audible gasp from the audience as the set changed from Act One and the curtains revealed a very stylish set for Act Two.

Sound Design by David Goatham, operated by Nick Hill, and Lighting Design by Peter Hodgkinson, operated by Alison Baldock. When these two areas blend well, there is a tendency to not notice either and almost take both for granted. That was the case here because both areas complimented each other perfectly and when there are no "actual" noticeable errors, you just know that this is a job completed to perfection.

Costumes by Lindsey Hemingway and Gail Tomlinson, and it's the second act where you get the splendour of the costumes.

"Play On" is at The Bonington Theatre in Arnold until Saturday 30 April, and I would strongly recommend getting a ticket or two for this play full of belly laughs, and also if you wanted an insight into what goes on within local theatre - maybe not quite to this heightened level though. Very, very funny script played out brilliantly by an immensely talented cast.