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Review by Emma Whitelaw
HILARITY prevails as conflicting human relationships fall under
the microscope in an evening of three one-act plays by Georges
Feydeau at the Greenwich Playhouse.
Rather than focusing on a character’s potential, Feydeau
chooses to write about what people inevitably, and amusingly,
are – utter fools!
His plays concentrate on the appetites and follies of the average
human being - the three plays presented by Encore Productions
being no exception.
The first play of the evening, Love And The Piano,
takes a case of mistaken identity to dizzying new heights.
Natasha Radski is excellent as Lucile, a young, seemingly innocent
girl who falls prey to the predatory advances of Adam Foster’s
Edouard.
Foster gives a truly outstanding performance as the sickening
Edouard.
His plan is to have an affair with a notable member of society
and hence lift his own social status. Licking his lips and making
obscene gestures, he tries to sink his claws into Lucile, whom
he believes to be a famous actress.
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Lucile, on the other hand, mistakes
Edouard for an eccentric musician, who calls upon her home to
give her piano lessons. The misunderstanding leads to a riotous
conclusion where love, as per usual, conquers all!
Through The Open Window follows with similar
hilarity. However, this time there is no mistaken identities –
rather it is a case of having no identity. Two strangers meet,
one demands sex, the other is scared of catching a cold!
Hector, played by the delightful Andrew Allen, does all that
he possibly can to fend off a scorned woman who appears at his
doorstep seeking revenge on her incessantly jealous husband. Mellony
Carr is simply superb as the sexy Brazilian temptress, Emma.
Just how sleeping with a complete stranger is supposed to help
her marriage is beyond me, but somehow Emma believes making love
to her reluctant neighbour will somehow silence her husband.
The insanity continues in My Wife’s Dead Mother.
Arguably the finest play of the evening, it featured all four
of the cast members at their very best. To say much more would
no doubt spoil the plot, but let’s just say mistaken identity
once again rears its silly head.
A guaranteed light-hearted evening, all three plays are a delight
to behold! Full of fun and mayhem with a lesson or two about human
folly thrown in too.
My Wife's Dead Mother, Love And The Piano, Through The
Open Window by Georges Feydeau. Starring Natasha Radski, Andrew
Allen, Adam Foster and Mellony Carr. May 3 - 22, 2005 at Greenwich
Playhouse. Greenwich Station Forecourt, 189 Greenwich High Road,
London SE10 8JA. Box Office 020 8858 9256.
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