| Happy Birthday |
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by Marc Camoletti 26 May - 4 June 2011
Bernard invites his mistress, Brigit, down to his country cottage on her birthday despite the fact that his wife, Jacqueline, will be there too. To avoid her suspicions, he also invites his best friend, Robert, and asks him to pretend that Brigit is his mistress. Robert is uneasy about this arrangement, never having met Brigit. When an attractive cleaning lady turns up, he is further confused. Increasingly desperate to keep his wife sweet, Bernard gives a masterly display of quick thinking until… well, you will have got the picture. A farce? You’ve got it in one. And a very funny one it is.
Croydon Advertiser Review17 June 2011 Theo Spring One farce is so much like another that, give or take small variations, they are almost interchangeable. The Miller Centre Players did what they could with the material but it is puzzling why they devoted their talents to Marc Camoletti’s uninspiring piece. Tony Dent’s brilliant set design took the audience into the living room of Jacqueline and Bernard’s well-appointed country retreat. With its split level, accessed by two wide flights of stairs linked by a built-in settee, the near triangular shape made the stage seem larger than it really is. The saloon-style access to the kitchen gave a tantalising hint of what lay beyond. Director Sharron Cox and her team worked hard to achieve the quick-fire repartee essential in covering the cracks in the plot. Only one actor occasionally let the pace slip marginally. Entrances and exits were unfailingly precise, grouping and movement faultless. Gail Bishop made the most of the play’s most rewarding part as one of the two characters called Brigit who are, inevitably, mistaken for each other. Her Brigit, a rough-edged cook hired by the couple, rolls with the punches when passed off as their friend Robert’s mistress – at an escalating fee when she realises what is expected of her. Samantha Elgar, Bernard’s sophisticated mistress, begrudgingly and uncomprehendingly applied herself to the kitchen to avoid giving away the truth. These two women were excellently contrasted. The other three actors, Helen Chisnall and David Love, the cheating partners, together with Roberto Prestoni as Robert, Jacqueline’s lover brought as much as they could to their roles.
Cast
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