SWEET ENOUGH - BUT THAT 1st ACT !
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from February 1977.
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I had an enjoyable evening at the Town Hall on Thursday, mainly because of Neil Simon's extremely funny lines and his appreciation of humorous situations. John Redman is no Walter Matthau, but he works hard in the first act as does Jan Brown. Unfortunately the act drags terribly and I am afraid I have to lay the responsibility at the door of Jack Dredge as director.
He had an hour of pure verbal comedy, and gave himself a hard time by totally miscasting the main characters. CREDIT
It is to their credit that they made the effort they did. Peter Kandiah, as the bellboy, was obviously doing a good job, but I could not hear him.
Stay with it. Peter, but concentrate on projection, as there really is not any point in being good if your audience have difficulty in hearing you. Marlies Mandrauch was more than adequate and looked charming, and Ken Clowes' Lladro-like entrance was superb.
Going back to the main characters, I feel that Jan Brown in particular suffered from being miscast.
Se can obviously act, and has a great amount of stage presence, but I would advise her not to let herself be cast in this kind of role again.
There really was no excuse for the first act to have left the audience bored, because you can be sure Neil Simon has never written a boring word.
FAULTLESS Mr. Dredge directed the second act very well. The timing was faultless and Ann Dorn was better than I ever thought she could be. Barbara Streisand would be proud to turn in a performance like this.
Arek Joseph does a very good job and I would like to see him in another part in another play, because the talent is obviously there, but was not fully utilised in Plaza Suite.
The final act brought tears to my eyes. I have seen many funny plays in Cayman and elsewhere, but this was nothing short of hilarious.
Judy Dredge has a tremendous talent for filling a stage. If she is on, you know it., and that seemed to pull John All in all, a very funny play, and rather well done by the Cayman Drama Society. Do go and see it.
I feely duty-bound to take this opportunity of expressing my personal disappointment at the lack of attendance by the public at Plaza Suite, and indeed at several previous plays.
We are insufficiently endowed with culture on this island to be able to afford the luxury of ignoring live theatre-A.C.P.
