Scribblings of Robs

26 Apr 2010

Support Local Theatre: Rumours

I headed off to the Masque Theatre this weekend to go check out Neil Simons hilarious, upper-clarse farce Rumours.

Director: Sue Bolton
Society: Claremont Dramatic Society
CAST: Graham Boxall, Lynn Moss, Lesley Gill, Gary Green, Bernie Jacobs, David Muller James Pape, Faeron Wheeler, Melanie Jessop and James Maritz.
Runs Until: 01 May
Venue: Masque Theatre, Muizenberg
Bookings: Call 021 788 1898
(09h00 to 16h00 during the week and 09h00 to 11h30 on Saturdays).
Tickets: Weekdays at 20h00 and Saturdays at 14h30 and 18h30. Tickets are R50 for Thursday evening and Saturday afternoons and R60 for all other evening performances

Review:

The play opens in the home of Charles and Vivienne Brooks. It is their tenth wedding anniversary and they have invited some friends over to celebrate. Throw gunshots, bandages, wrecked BMW’s, a cigarette starved guest, a large crystal and of course a rumour into the mix and you have yourselves quite a night.

Hats off to Sue Bolton who directs a fabulous cast. The characters were solid and the interactions on stage between the various couples were hilarious.  The actors maintained their characters beautifully, to the point where I found myself turning away from the main focus and watching them to catch their reactions.

The delivery, the timing and the pace were superb, as well as the use of the stage. Projection was sometimes a bit off (combatting the laughter) and I had to really listen in order to catch the dialogue.

The the set was striking and beautiful. Particular highlights were the Objet D’art hanging on the wall, as well as the headlights approaching up the drive.

I also loved the design of both the program and the poster. Thought it was nice and fresh

There were 8 of us in row E and we all enjoyed it. We laughed from start to finish.

There are beautiful restaurants in the area. So have dinner, have a drink at the Masque and then laugh until your sides ache. It’s a great night out

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Best Bits (Spoiler Alert):

The numerous conversations surrounding the whereabouts of Mai-Lee. Lenn (Green) and his new members at the tennis club rant. Ernest (Muller) running out with his poor bandaged fingers. Cookie (Jacobs) crawling across the stage in agony. Cassie (Wheeler) and her crystal. Ken (Boxall) and his hilarious loss of hearing. The “that’s right” moments.  Chris (Moss) realising she had lost the finger war. Claires (Gill) cutting commentary throughout the evening.  Watching Glenn (Pape) trying to make himself part of the wall in order to avoid questioning from the police. PC Conklin (Jessop) trying to get a handle on the nights events and lastly seeing PC Casey (Maritz) furiously scribbling away in his notebook..

Rumours: Masque Theatre