"Play On" by Ravenshead Theatre Group.

Ravenshead Village Hall.

"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.

Written by Rick Abbott, 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.

So many times of late I've seen theatre groups performing as an ensemble piece, meaning that everyone acts at the same level, and I am always hard pushed to pick anyone from the "ensemble group" who is any better than the next. This is another such show where the actors show incredibly tight teamwork from start to finish. 

Aggie Manvillle is the stage manager within the play, played by Helen Berry. 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 Helen.

Geraldine “Gerry” Dunbar is the play within a play's Director. Again another frustrated soul is Gerry, brought to life by Mandy Buckley.

  Andy Cook plays Henry Benish who is playing Lord Dudley and Sarah Tryner 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. 

Marla "Smitty" Smith is played by Katherine Butler. "Smitty" is playing Doris the Maid. Abbott is 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 Katherine works this so well.

Saul Watson, played by Eddie Gray, 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 in the final performance. 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. This is Eddie's debut for RTG but his stage presence and confidence shows that this is not his first stage rodeo.

Billy Carewe, played by Oliver Glover 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. Oliver has risen through the ranks of the Ravenshead Youth Group, and that experience shows in this very confident and comedic performance.

Rachel Gascoigne plays Violet Imbry, playing Diana Lassiter, and is a great foil for Billy with their act being art reflecting real life, within the play that is. Great upper class accent for Diana.

Louise Peary is the stage technician within "Play On" and is played by Lucy Johnson. 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 Catherine Buckley.

One very important thing with the "actors" and their "roles" within the play is to be able to show the difference between the two personas within the play, and that is something that the Ravenshead group have nailed in this show; you can immediately tell the actor from the "actor" from the role played by the "actor".

Directed by Rob Hurst, assisted by Jacques Hurst. If you've seen this comedy before, which I had several years ago, you notice things that seem different from when you first see it, and making those subtle changes to a play is the sign of an accomplished and confident Director. I've seen this quite often of late, and it's great to see a director making a production there own and keeping it fresh for people who have witnessed the shows before. For first timers to the play, you would not know that anything may have been changed. 

Rob has used every bit of the Village Hall as his stage, never restricting the acting to just the stage. Even before the play starts there's action, and interaction with the audience, and when the play starts there are actors coming at you from every direction, and even joining you in the audience throughout, again making this version fresh.

And afterwards I also commended Rob on the sign of a stylish waistcoat wearer, as depicted on the male cast members. Take a look at the bottom button of their waistcoats and you'll see that the bottom button is NEVER fastened up; the sign of a gentleman. It's these small touches that show the time taken by any great Director.

Set design is by Rob as well. Act One shows a bare skeleton of a stage, but come Act Two you could hear the audible gasp of the audience at the change in the set dressing. More than that I won't divulge but what a difference between the first and second act set.

Sound is by Daniel Andrews, and what a superb job Dan did. from the opening piece of music, which straight away set the tone for this very funny piece of theatre, through to the timing - and at times planned mistiming of the effects, everything was spot on.

Lighting is by Iain Walton. One thing that I have noticed about the production side of Ravenshead Theatre Group is just how slick and professional the technical people are.

The costumes for the final act are gorgeous and extremely classy and sourced by Lin Baggarley, Mandy Buckley and Rob Hurst.

This production isn't produced very often locally, possibly because of the hard work that goes into the show by everyone, but when the results are as good as this, the hard work is so worth it. It's also reflected in the audience sizes and their reactions. Friday night was rammed and their reactions could not have been better.

The Postman delivered yet again!

"Play On" by Ravenshead Theatre Group is at Ravenshead Village Hall until Saturday 18 May.