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The uncut X-Beacon files July 2001
Painswick Players: The Darkness
Shines Out Brightly For Black Comedy
‘Just don’t fall over the furniture!’ was Noel
Coward’s memorable advice to a gushing young actress who had sought The
Master’s directorial advice about how to play her part. Generally sound
advice, you might think. And it is, except for our next production (Black
Comedy, 12th – 14th July), where, strangely, the opposite is true. Why?
Because the action takes place in the dark and we do indeed see the cast
blundering around the stage and falling over the furniture. Let me explain further. Peter Shaffer based Black Comedy on a classic Japanese Noh Theatre concept – no, he did really - where light and dark are reversed. The upshot is that the audience can see what happens when the lights go out. Set in London in the Swinging Sixties, the action takes place in the basement flat of Brindsley, a struggling young sculptor, who has just become engaged to the frightfully debby, Carol. It is a crucial evening: he is meeting his fearsome prospective father-in-law for the first time. He is also expecting a millionaire art collector who has taken a fancy to his work. To impress both, he has ‘borrowed’ priceless objets d’art, antique chairs and an irreplaceable chaise longue from an absent neighbour. A bright future beckons… Then the main fuse blows and the whole building is plunged into brilliant darkness. And then the neighbour returns and so all the furniture has to be put back, without the neighbour finding out. Even though he is unwittingly still sitting on the irreplaceable chaise longue. And then one of Brindsley’s old flames turns up and things begin to warm up, but still in the dark. And then the millionaire turns out to be an Electricity Board engineer sent to mend the fuse. At about this point, the Buddha disappears. The Buddha? Oh yes, I forgot to mention the Buddha… Confused? Need enlightenment? Then come to the Painswick Centre at 8.00 pm on Thursday 12th, Friday 13th or Saturday 14th July and see the light! Tickets are available now from Painswick Post Office and The Shetland Shop, price £6.00. I can promise you a brilliant evening, especially since - thanks to a generous donation from the Helen McKee Trust - we have been able to replace and upgrade all of our stage lighting. There is a nice irony about using all this brand new megawattage to illuminate a play set in the dark! Jack Burgess, Painswick Players |
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