THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND/BLACK COMEDY. To 21 September.

Exeter

THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND
by Tom Stoppard and
BLACK COMEDY
by Peter Shaffer

Northcott Theatre To 21 September 2002
Mon-Sat 7.30pm
Runs 2hr 45min One interval

TICKETS 01392 493493
Review Hazel Brown 29 August

Hilarious theatrical double bill of 'light' comedyTwo of the funniest comedies written in the twentieth century are given fine comic performances and direction at the Northcott. I take my life in my hands dealing with the former; though Stoppard said: "It was never a play about drama critics," Hound's built around the comments of two critics - lascivious Birdboot and intellectual Moon - on a stagey old thriller they're watching, and their subsequent disastrous involvement in its action. Mike Burnside and Paul Greenwood are nicely contrasted as the critics and Eliza Hunt's excellent performance as Mrs Drudge owes much to Mrs Overall of Acorn Antiques. As the audience is 'back stage', clever use of gauze adds to the comedy by the actors in the 'play' being seen waiting for their entrances.

Black Comedy opens in complete darkness, with the actors moving around and talking until there is a complete electrical breakdown. The stage is bathed in blinding white light and the actors proceed as though they are in complete darkness. James Weber Brown plays the young sculptor, Brindsley, who has 'borrowed' the furniture from his absent gay neighbour, Harold, in order to impress a potential buyer and his girlfriend's father. A nervous spinster neighbour and the father, a prickly ex-Colonel, arrive, followed closely by the return of Harold and Brindsley's ex-girlfriend, Clea. Finally, the repair man and the deaf millionaire enter and sparks fly.

Dippy debutantes and distaste for homosexuals are now outdated comic devices, but this is still one of the best comedies ever written for the theatre. Paul Greenwood is gloriously repressed as Harold, while Natasha Nicoll transfers from sweet deb to scorned fury in a crescendo of anger. James Weber Brown descends effectively into sweating angst, clinging to the down to earth Clea, Sarah Walton, as his life falls apart around him. I thoroughly recommend this evening as a comic theatrical tour de force.

Birdboot/Colonel Melkett: Mike Burnside
Moon/Harold Gorringe: Paul Greenwood
Voice of Radio/Inspector Hound/Shuppanzigh: Ian Stuart Robertson
Mrs Drudge/Miss Furnival: Eliza Hunt
Simon/Brindsley Miller: James Weber Brown
Felicity/Carol Melkett: Natasha Nicoll
Cynthia/Clea: Sarah Walton
Magnus/George Bamberger: David Semark
The Body: Chris Wellings/Nick Young

Director: Richard Beecham
Designer/Costume: Soutra Gilmour
Lighting: Simon Macer-Wright
Fight director: Richard Ryan

2002-09-12 10:47:45