The Bubble by Rob Porter
5/12/24

It was a dark and rainy night for my first visit to this charming venue, but the warm welcome was genuine and appreciated. We were pleased to be able to follow other audience members down the dark paths. I wonder if temporary A boards signposting the route through the buildings could be of value to anyone unfamiliar with the site layout.

The play had been sent on beforehand, and I had enjoyed reading it, although wondered quite how the staging would be managed (more of that later!). The audience was clearly anticipating this third production in the 50 th anniversary year, and there was some excitement about the fact that it had been written locally. The provision of mince pies with drinks in the interval was a really nice touch.

The programme was also interesting, and it was clear that a lot of thought had gone into it. It brought pre-show humour with the Christmas movie checklist, a visual reminder of the covid days, and an interesting director's note that set the context of the production.

Raffles are becoming a necessity for funding of performing groups nowadays as production costs rise, and efforts are made to keep ticket prices affordable. However, they can be disproportionately lengthy, and ways of keeping them efficient should be explored. (This is a general comment for all groups that I am seeing, so not a direct criticism of the experience at Dovercourt)

Congratulations to the set design and build team on this one. It was clever and extremely well executed, and the thought that had gone into it paid dividends in the production, and allowed for great naturalism, and a clear flow of movement around the stage. The script called for clear delineation of the kitchen from the lounge area, and this was achieved extremely well, with imaginative use of entrances and lighting creating a fourth wall within the fourth wall. There was sufficient space within the kitchen area to allow for conversation and action to develop, even though we were only seeing the upper half of the actors, and when lit, the space in front of the kitchen gave a useful area for characters not directly involved in the action of the moment to sit. The placement of the oven cleverly allowed the smoke to build and the actors to dramatically respond to the over-cooking of the bird! The Christmas tree in this area was a lovely way of indicating the period without having to go overboard on other Christmassy decoration, and this allowed us to see the cleverly placed pictures and memorabilia on the back wall of the lounge area. There were some beautifully wrapped presents, and the sideboard was well dressed with drinks/photos The kitchen was extremely well dressed with props, again carefully placed so that we could see them, and accessible to the actors in a way that created a very naturalistic approach within this area. The lounge furniture – so often a problem when blocking plays – was appropriately sized and well placed, giving the older characters specific spaces for their one liners, whilst the rest of the action took place around or between them. Stage Management was unobtrusive with any action needed being done pre-show or during the interval. Cast managed all their props with practised ease.

There were obvious challenges to providing lighting in the venue but they made the best of a simple rig. As previously noted, the lighting design was an integral part of the set design, and although not complex in it's overall design, the fades between the different areas was subtly done and carefully timed with the movement of actors and action.

Again, the timing was good with the doorbell, tv and mobile phones, and the sound clips were integral to the piece as they were part of references made during the dialogue.

Costumes were modern day and chosen to reflect or accentuate the character or style of the individual. Sharon's casual Christmas attire contrasted nicely with Karen's dressier style, and there were marked differences in the attire of the two husbands, although I did feel that Mike's jogging bottoms and slipper selection were not quite right for the setting of "upper middle class" and his character description. Beryl was the archetypal grandma in dress and hair setting, whilst Samuel's suit really supported his portrayal of the odd-ball loner.

The group are to be congratulated on supporting the writing of a member. The play was entertaining, and the direction kept it pacy and it rarely lost momentum in the development of the story. Characters were well developed through their dialogue. There were a number of plot lines and character relationships which developed well in Act 1. I thought Act 2 lost its way a bit, which weakened the overall production, and I felt that there was a slight tension within the production between a strong naturalistic style in Act 1 and increased amounts of caricature and dialogue in Act 2 which almost verged on pantomime. My colleague was particularly irritated by the over doing of the farting by the grandma and felt that given they all had sprouts maybe some of the others might be to blame instead, and we both felt that Albert's lechery was allowed to become OTT and unnecessarily crude. Nevertheless, the audience in general seemed to appreciate the exaggerated comedy so I must acknowledge that I was in a minority on this point, and overall I felt that it was a very successful production! On a separate issue, I wonder whether the 'fight' scenes might have been helped by some specialist advice, as the two main protagonists were not always genuine in their movement, and sometimes it was extended for too long.

– Liz McLeod – Liz portrayed Sharon as a homely, family orientated person – lovely touches in the early scenes with the nibbles and growing suspicions, and the interplay with Karen was well done. We both felt that the developing drunkenness was well done until the section with the fiddling with the Christmas tree, which became a little distracting.

– Jordan Brown – Jordan conveyed Mike's obsessive personality well – the Die Hard moments were well done, as were the increasingly desperate phone calls with Colleen/Colin. There were times when I felt that his dialogue could have had more shape, or to have varied in tone a little more in his interactions with different members of the family.

– Deonne Newson – the interplay between Ophelia and Samuel was great – two bickering cousins dishing the dirt on each other, and the relationship between father and daughter came across well. Deonne had good stage presence and awareness.

– Margaret Coleman – this was a lovely portrayal – a beloved elderly grandma whose lapses of memory and displacement of events was so well done. We warmed to the character in the early scenes and found her Act 2 dance during Boris' speech beautifully done. Well done.

– Sara Talbot-Ashby – The stylish Karen was a good contrast to Sharon. Sara gave a strong performance which blended the acerbic and competitive nature of Karen with a genuine desire to help her sister find a solution to the problem – only to compound matters more. Her lack of awareness about how she impacted on others was portrayed with a sense of innocence rather than maliciousness.

– Richard Kemp-Luck – Richard demonstrated good stage presence and his dialogue was sharp and concise. He helped keep the pace of the production going and was able to convey the frustration and exasperation he felt about Karen well. Somehow though his anger with Mike didn't seem to grow sufficiently to warrant the comments Karen makes about him being aggressive and uncontrollably angry.

– Jake Clover - Jake's role and presence within the play grew as the action progressed. His stick wielding character was entertaining throughout, and his commentary on Boris's speech in Act 2 reminded us about the tensions felt throughout the country throughout the pandemic, and kept the play grounded. Good work with Ophelia.

– Greg McDowell –Greg was incredibly consistent in his portrayal of this rather unpleasant character, which was quite 'Alf Garnett' like. Not once did he drop his rather unpleasant mannerisms, and his squirreling away of his whisky was very entertaining. His movement was appropriate for the age played.

Thank you for the opportunity to visit this lovely theatre and to see the play – a fitting finale to your 50 th anniversary year.

The Bubble by Rob Porter.
Director Rob Porter

Performed at The Dovercourt Theatre Group Studio, Dovercourt on Wednesday 4th December at 7.30pm

I was warmly greeted on arrival at this small and intimate studio by Katherine Johnson and Linda Potter. Society member Rob Porter had written this comedy based loosely on the COVID 'bubble' requirements in 2020 and featured a fractious family spending Christmas Day together. Rob also directed the play and I spoke with him both before and after the performance. Before the play started Rob delivered an introduction reminding the audience to keep face masks on and maintain at least 2 metres distance from each other! A timely reminder which set the scene for the hilarious and cleverly written plot.

The action took place in the lounge and kitchen of Sharon and Mike Thompsons' house. The stage was skilfully divided into a small kitchen and a lounge and good use of lights helped to change the scenes. Christmas tree and lights were in situ in the lounge alongside chairs and settee. Sound levels were good and all the cast projected well. Costumes were colourful and relevant to the characters.

This was a modern play and was very well cast indeed with all the actors playing to their strengths. Without exception all the cast performed very well, enjoying the humour of the script. And there was plenty of humour throughout, sometimes a little risqué maybe ! There was lots of frantic movement keeping up with the everchanging script.

Liz McLeod, as Sharon Thompson was excellent as the harassed housewife attempting to cook Christmas lunch for eight. The strange behaviour of Jordan Brown, as her husband Mike leads her to believe he is having an affair with the neighbour. Jordan was suitably evasive and rather argumentative and regularly referred to his superior status as a college lecturer. ( I loved his slippers ! ) Margaret Coleman as Beryl was the epitome of an elderly lady somewhat forgetful and reminiscing about the past. Margaret had some great facial expressions and wore an amazing wig ! Deonne Newson was a bright and bubbly young Ophelia determined that everyone should enjoy Christmas.

Now to the other side of the gathering, the Hardwicks. Sara Talbot-Ashby, as Karen was overbearing and bossy and bored everyone with her countless talk of wellness. Her husband Bill, well played by Richard Kemp-Luck, was a left winger, working class man who had ambitions ! Jake Clover, as Samuel had a great role as a nerdy type, obsessed about germs and catching COVID and who spent his time in a full haz-mat suit complete with surgical mask. He carried a 2 metre stick all the time to be confident that the family were observing the requirement. Many comical moments here ! Greg McDowell played Albert an elderly and somewhat smutty relative and Greg excelled at this part injecting so much humour and innuendo into it. His actions and facial expressions were impressive.

Without doubt this play was one of the funniest I have seen for a while and the audience loved it. The funniest parts for me were the fight behind the settee between Mike and Bill and Albert's expressions and exaggerated movements. Many congratulations to writer and director Rob Porter for his inspiration and casting. Well done to everyone involved in any way.

Hazel Hole MBE
Regional Representative
NODA East
District 11

NODA owns the intellectual Property Rights to the content of all show reports written by NODA Councillors, Reps and Assistant Reps