Seven of the amateur theatre company’s cast are down with the dreaded lurgy.
So the Middling Cove Players’ director and two of the remaining actors, and whoever else Shane can co-opt, pitch in to continue the long tradition of ‘the show must go on’.
Juggling nerves, props, and absurd miscasting, will they manage to pull it off? Or will everything go horribly, terribly and awfully wrong?
"A classic farce in the same vein as The Play that Goes Wrong." Suzie Go See.
"Eye-steamingly funny." Megaphone Oz.
"The hilarity sweeps all before it." Sydney Morning Herald.
"Complete mayhem and jolly good fun." City Hub.
"A tight, bright theatrical farce." Stage Whispers.
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Plot / Synopsis
News arrives at the theatre that several of the cast have the “dreaded lurgy” and are unable to appear that night. Never mind, the show must go on.
Further news arrives that even more of the cast are down, and those who are gathered have to decide if the show can proceed. Shane also delivers the news that a member of the local council is in tonight to essentially decide the fate of the company.
With just the Director and two cast members left standing, our troupe decide that the show MUST go on! So with the help of the stage manager (and her twelve year old niece) and a slightly unwilling audience member, opening night forges ahead.
What follows is organised chaos as our cast swap hats and accents in a flurry of plate spinning, prop smashing, entrance missing madness.
The play - Midnight Murder At Hamlington Hall - is a classic whodunnit story, lovingly adapted by Shane Tweed from the dubiously written novel by crime writer Mabel Shtint. A mixed bag of characters are invited to a secluded mansion, people keep getting murdered and we have to figure out who is the culprit.
Our troupe of players soldier on bravely through all the pitfalls of theatre….ill fitting costumes, bad wigs, forgotten lines, bad acting, missing sound effects - the list goes on - and somehow manage to make it to the end of the show.
Along the way our leading couple manage to realise they are in love, our stage manager discovers her talent for acting, our resident stalwart gets knocked down a peg or two and in a final twist we learn the audience member plucked out to perform is actually the local councilor sent to decide the fate of the Players.
Naturally he has a ball, and the company is saved. Proving the adage true - The show must go on. Even when it sometimes probably shouldn’t.
SETTING
The setting is the drawing room of a grand country mansion in Norwich in the 1950’s.
It’s a small, amateur theatre company where the play is situated so the quality of the set should reflect that. Perhaps some wobbly flats and the odd mismatched item of furniture.
Cast
Cast Info: 2F , 3M
Phillipa Chidley - 30’s, 40’s. Star of many past Middling Cove productions and Shanes muse. Part time diva.
Barney Simpson - 50’s, 60’s. Old school amateur thespian. Thinks he could have been a star.
Karen Sharp - 20’s, 30’s. Stage Manager new to the game but willing to learn. Dry and acerbic.
Richard Greenwood - any age. A local councilor.