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COMMUNICATING DOORS by Alan Ayckbourn 30 October to 21 November 1998 Directed by Simone de Haas Cast List Review Doorway to Good Laughs Alison Cotes - The Courier Mail - 4 November 1998 Doors open and shut, people enter and leave, but are they the same people as they were before? Or more exactly, can they be sure what's on the other side of those doors? Alan Ayckbourn always manages a new twist on reality and here, instead of the usual bedroom-door farce, we have a time travel fantasy, where three women who are in various ways tied to a rich, corrupt businessman (is that a tautology?) meet each other in the same hotel suite, but at periods 20 years apart. The trophy wife, the sensible wife and the dominatrix complete with full leathers and a case full of bondage gear are all at risk - the wives have both been murdered in the past by their husband's evil right-hand man, but by some strange quirk of fate (where are you, Dr Who, now that we really need you?) they meet across time and manage to change the historical past. It's a very satisfying conceit, and Ayckbourn works it out in his usual highly amusing fashion, with his usual sense of moral rightness. As in all good comedy, villains are punished and good people rewarded, but this mode also allows the moving finger to turn back and cancel the lines it doesn't like - the playwright as God, if you like, but more generous. This quirky kind of comedy is the specialty of Mixed Company, a small but impressive group who have decided on their genre and stuck to it and, in so doing, have found an appreciative audience - the tiny Cement Box Theatre was packed to the rafters on opening night, and it wasn't a paper house. Either Simone de Haas has very good connections or Mixed Company has a huge budget, for the set is exquisite. There's been no skimping on furnishings, and it's as good a reproduction of a five-star London hotel suite as you'd see on any stage. In this elegant, timeless setting, the women and the various stupid or evil men in their lives drift in and out of time, foil each other's murder plots, do not engage in the kinky sexual activities that are hinted at, and generally provide enough laughs and thrills to keep the audience very happy indeed. The cast, as always, is solidly competent rather than Oscar material, but newcomer Anke Willems as the orphanage-kid-turned-specialist-sexual-consultant-with-a-conscience shows a great deal of talent, and Brian Hinselwood adds a delicious evil streak to his usual imitation of The Bill's Sergeant Bob Cryer. For an audience, this production is a low-cost, high entertainment outing. What more could you ask? |
