Kineton delivers first rate quartet of vignettes in the Neil Simon classic - London Suite
- Charles Essex
- 3 minutes ago
- 3 min read
London Suite by Neil Simon performed by Kineton Amateur Dramatic Society (KADS), Warwickshire, from 19 November until 22 November.
Review by Charles Essex.
Neil Simon had great success with his plays California Suite and Plaza Suite, where a trilogy of short scenes take place in the same room of a hotel. He repeats the same formula, this time with a quartet of vignettes, moving the action to Britain in London Suite.
In Settling Accounts, writer Margo (Sara Johnston) confronted her manager Jo (Lauren Worrall) at the airport as Jo looks at the international departure board. At the point of a gun Margo forces Jo into the hotel room and echoing many stories of successful people being deceived by their manager who was supposed to look after their finances whilst they concentrated on the skill that brought them success, Margo accused Jo of stealing her money and getting ready to do a runner.
With unusually strong language for Kineton Amateur Dramatic Society (KADS), and in this reviewer’s opinion completely unnecessary, Sara portrayed Margo’s increasing irritation at Jo’s apparent deception. Lauren gave Jo a superb combination of understandable fear, with oleaginous attempts to explain the situation, even trying to turn the tables and blame any financial losses on Jo’s indifference to financial matters. No spoilers here as to how the confrontation panned out but Jo and Sara maintained the tension between them to the end.
Shopaholic mother (Penny Roberts) and daughter (Liz Redmayne) were on their last night in London before flying back to the USA in Going Home. Penny had an excellent New York accent, which she maintained throughout, as she and Liz bickered and teased and conveyed a clearly loving mother-daughter relationship. After Penny had gone on a blind date with another hotel guest, described in comical detail, she and Liz had a revealing conversation with an unexpected moral dilemma.
After the interval, Christine Cherry, as successful soap opera star Diane, met her ex-husband Sidney (Michael Nevill) in the eponymous Diane and Sidney. Christine and Michael had great chemistry as Christine conveyed a wonderful mixture of anxiety, sensitivity and frustration at Diane’s feelings toward Sidney. Michael was wonderfully light-hearted and good-humoured in the face of what turned out to be very bad news, which Christine addressed with heartfelt distress. Helped by an excellent script, this was the best piece of the evening.
And finally, a bit of slapstick. Dave Candy was The Man on the Floor, although he was joined by several others by the end of the play. Dave has cornered the KADS market on frustrated males, and he gave Mark’s facetious comments the right amount of spikiness. This contrasted ideally with Michael Nevill’s chirpiness as Dr McMerlin. This piece was played for laughs and was very successful as the finale.
The set was a terrific tribute to the designers Mervyn Fell and Simon Eley. Director Ren Katz cleverly had scene changes performed by crew wearing butler and domestic staff uniforms, getting the room ready for each set of guests, and Matt Penn gave wonderful piano accompaniment during the changes. KADS has again punched well above its weight and the audience quite rightly went away fully satisfied with tonight’s performance.
Tickets from: Contact Us | Kineton Amateur Dramatic Society
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