How to begin? The curtain rises on The Play’s the Thing to reveal two playwrights puzzling over just this. This age-old artistic dilemma sets the scene beautifully for P.G. Wodehouse’s enchanting drawing-room comedy that is all about the theatricalities of life.
Wodehouse’s 1926 adaptation of Ferenc Molnar’s Hungarian comedy centres around Turai, an acclaimed and dreamy playwright and Mansky, his practical collaborator, who are guests in an Italian castle. The writers have their protégé in tow – the young composer, Adam, who is hopelessly in love with Ilona, the Primadonna who will star in the operetta Adam is writing for Turai and Mansky.
The three men plan to surprise Ilona, who is also staying in the castle, but the plan goes dramatically awry when the trio overhear the diva making love to the over-sensitive ham actor, Almady, in the next room.
Quick-thinking Turai hatches a plan to get his friends out of the mess, and what unfolds is a wonderfully clever and witty drama that wouldn’t seem out of place in Fawlty Towers. ElevenOneTheatre’s rendition of this play is enchanting.
The set, with its chaise longue and period telephone, was simple but handsome and the cast were excellent. David Guthrie and Ida Persson deserve special mention in supporting roles, playing the self-satisfied Butler, Dwornitschek, and the jittery secretary, Mell. Both handled these comic roles masterfully and stole the scenes they appeared in.
In keeping with a play that pokes fun at theatrical conventions, the acting was flamboyant and physical theatre was used to great comic effect. Exaggerated tip-toeing, gawping facial expressions and wailing were met with chuckles from the audience.
Dominic Bullock’s Almady (the Primadonna’s lover) laid low in the first two acts, but triumphed in the play-within-the-play, where his escalating frustration at being forced to play the fool by Turai, was arguably the play’s comic high point. Indeed, all the actors worked hard in this scene and had the audience in stitches.
The performance was silly, but thanks to the professionalism of the cast and crew, it was sophisticated enough to carry meaning and remind us of the performance of real life. “Life isn’t all theatre” says the common-sensical Mansky, early on. Rot! In their highly theatrical and wickedly entertaining performance, ElevenOneTheatre prove otherwise.