IT MUST have been disheartening for the cast of Mrs Doubtfire to perform in front of a sea of empty seats on a stage poorly lit only by tungsten tube overhead lighting.
So full marks must go to the Images company for not only daring to present a play adapted from the m
assively popular film, but for also giving some pretty good performances.
Well, they sounded good. Sadly, the cast were mainly in silhouette, thus losing the effect of the facial expression and change of character so necessary to Mrs Doubtfire and the rest of the cast.
To his credit, Howard Kelly, who played the dual role of Mrs Doubtfire and the husband Daniel, gave an inspired performance, wisely avoiding emulating an American accent, while producing a contrasting Edinburgh accent when he became the housekeeper whom his kids eventually discover is their much adored dad who dons the disguise in order to be close to them.
In fact, he was absolutely perfect in the dual role.
As the career-minded wife, Jennifer Marshall was totally convincing, despite her constant appearance in the same outfit. Watch out for this young lady in the future shows.
Director Viktoria Kelly not only stepped in to play three different supporting roles, she also adapted the play, throwing in unnecessary reference to local places instead of sticking to the script.
Yet it mainly all worked beautifully, even if the scene changes were ragged, to say the least, and the Japanese idea of using moveable screens to denote different settings and mood music to change scenes, posed several problems for the stage crew.
However, this was a first night and no doubt such difficulties would have been ironed out.
Full marks to Yulia Allan, Elliot Gilmour and Megan Cairns, who played the children, Caroline Tait, a very creditable judge, and Stuart Archibald, Euan Gilmour and James Allan, who handled their supporting roles well.
Speaking of which, why no name credit in the programme for the professional, exquisitely costumed belly dancer? If ever proper lighting was merited, this was it. She danced beautifully.
This was an amateur production which bravely ventured into the big time, coping with the non-theatrical setting of Strathbrock Community Centre in Broxburn and managing to convey a funny story with emotional undertones. A case of who dares, wins.
