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Directed this festival entry. Uk premier of this excellent play!
Review:
THE BETCHWORTH FESTIVAL
by Julian Chenery
"... in my opinion... the highlight of the night"
The annual Betchworth Drama Festival of One Act plays, now in its 47th year, was hosted by the Barn Theatre in Oxted last month.
Host society Oxted's Student Players were one of eleven companies competing this year, and their choice of play, "Opposites Attract" by Bruce Kane, was discovered by Director Paul Longhurst on the Internet.
The play's bitty structure, with some scenes only a few lines long, was well overcome by Paul Longhurst on his directorial debut, by cleverly overlapping each section in the style of early Monty Python. He was ably supported by a strong and talented cast who brought roars of laughter time and time again from the appreciative audience.
Jeremy Lloyd was a relaxed Dave, a high flying City lawyer in love with tennis, his BMW and himself - but not necessarily in that order. In a witty opening sequence played revue-style straight out front from three bar stools, he was flanked by his wife from Surrey (Lyn Lloyd), and his lover from Docklands (Natalie Baron); yet before long their roles were reversed, his lover became his wife and life just wasn't the same any more - now he had to drive a Honda.
The scenes segued slickly together as we met Carrie Brooke-Mellor's increasingly independent Lois; Guy Hudson's mind-reading Greg, who inadvertantly told Natalie Baron's submissive Tanya that he knew she would sleep with him, only for her to turn testy and defensive.
Joanne Saville showed what a strong and sexy actress she can be, first as the aloof Barbara spitting out one-liners like a machine gun, and later as the promiscuous Mary in a hilarious bed scene portraying the mating rituals of modern courtship. Steve Palmer won the award for Best Supporting Actor for his part in all this. Some people have all the luck! Mind you he did have to take his shirt off, and I didn't notice him holding his stomach in.
Honours of the evening must go to Drew Brooke-Mellor's "Del-Boyesque" Ted. Strutting like a brown leather-clad peacock, here was a man that always wanted what he couldn't get, then got it, then didn't want it anymore. When asked "What does she have that I don't have?", his superbly timed riposte was sublime: "She's unobtainable."
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