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RUMORS by Neil Simon 25 October to 16 November 1996 Directed by Simone de Haas Cast List Review Delicious Play is Wicked Fun Alison Cotes - The Courier Mail - 5 November 1996 When Neil Simon gets it right, he gets it very right indeed, and when local director Simone de Haas has a cast as good as this, she really does the play justice. Mixed Company are on a sure-fire winner with this delicious production of a wickedly funny play. The situation is the dinner party from hell - four up-market (the new Mercedes, Nike shoes, holidays in Bermuda, private tennis club set) New York couples meet at the home of another couple to celebrate their hosts' 10th wedding anniversary. The trouble is that the hostess has disappeared, the host seems to have shot himself through the earlobe, the Chinese butler and cook have taken off and the dinner hasn't been cooked. What do these trusty friends (I use the word in its New York sense) do? The first couple to arrive unsuccessfully try to hide the truth from the second couple, who then try to hide it from the third couple and so on, with more and more hilarious complications and bizarre explanations, until eventually the police arrive and the bickering eightsome have to present a united front to save their own skins. It's farce, pure and simple, and it's wonderfully done. Unusually for the Cement Box, the set isn't scraped together from the attic, but is elegantly painted and furnished; the perfectly matched actors know that good farce doesn't need over-playing; the timing is exquisite; and the jokes never stop coming. This is a five-star production of a seven-door farce, and it's a little gem. It may well be the best non-musical thing playing in Brisbane at the moment. |
