Arts Alliance of Pine Rivers Inc

A Touch of Danger

How the hell do you direct a Francis Durbage play? Durbage, for those of you too young to remember, was a playwright who rose to fame as a writer of radio serials in the 1930s featuring the hero Paul Temple (not to be confused with Simon Templar, The Saint).

His style is wordy, to say the least. His plays are quite melodramatic and absolutely packed with twists and turns. Quite frankly, I wondered how a modern audience would take to this play, written late in his life. The opening night audience loved it. There were loud “Ooohs” at the end of each of the multiple scenes. Director, Anne Wilson chose not to send the play up too much letting the unbelievable dialog do the work for her.

She included subtle touches like having the obvious spy, not remember which leg was injured, limp on one leg and then another. I loved the old radio play music interspersed between each scene. Act 1 has quite a deep but narrow stage which has been a problem in some past productions, not this one however. I don’t know who designed the set but full marks to them. The balcony upstage solved all the masking problems of previous productions.

There were some technical difficulties on this first night but the cast handled them like pros. Anne has assembled a large cast for a small company and as can be expected the talent varies greatly. The play is set in the smart London apartment of Max Telligan Pat O’Callaghan a well known novelist who is going through a hectic divorce with his wife Harriett Wendy Kemp. O’Callaghan plays Max as a person who is obviously more in control of intrigue in his books than in his personal life. His wife and his secretary, played by the always effervescent Sandy Adsett dominate him completely.

Other visitors to Max’s flat are rarely what they purport to be. Experienced actor Terry Frawley heads up a group of supporting actors including Trevor Howden, Valerie Rose, Chris Bradley, Royce Leivesley and most impressive was Candice Dittmann who makes a brilliant stage debut as the ditsy girlfriend of the sleazy golf pro.

I found some inconsistency between the props and the costumes in the play, making it hard to determine when the play was set, but maybe this is nitpicking. Certainly go along and try to figure out who are the real baddies. I bet you can’t do it.

Ray Swenson

PERFORMANCE DATES

Fri Apr 23 @ 8pm, Sat Apr 24 @ 8pm
Fri Apr 30 @ 8pm, Sat May 01 @ 8pm
Sun May 02 @ 2pm
Fri May 07 @ 8pm, Sat May 08 @ 8pm

Book via email
(hover mouse over the required date and click to book)
or phone Michele on  3205 1897

Adults $16, Members $10,
Pensioners/Concessions $14

 

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