THEATREWORLD INTERNET MAGAZINE:

'Corpsing'
-Hen and Chickens Theatre

reviewed by Julia Stephenson

"Corpsing is made up of four short plays about actors that show situations
where acting and real-life can blur until we are not sure which is which.
Five actors take on various roles in the plays.

The opening play 'Humour Helps' finds Hilda (Flik Swan) lounging around a sofa.She is bored and depressed and does not know what to do with herself. Three mysterious packages on the floor may be the answer to her suffering. Does she really want to kill herself or is it just a performance? She is after all an actress. But when she misfires her shotgun she causes a hole in her ceiling, which goes through to the flat upstairs. Through this hole comes the voice of Saunders (Julian Roberts) her upstairs neighbour and the most boring man alive, who adds to Hilda's torment. Flik Swan flings herself around the stage to show her character's boredom, and there are some entertaining moments.

In 'Waiting for a Bus' we see husband and wife duo Jane (Flik Swan) and Paul (Daniel Dresner) rehearsing a scene from a comedy that Paul is also directing, badly. In the scene too is Tony (Matthew Duggan) playing the role of Jane's lover, who, unbeknownst to Paul, he is in real-life. Reality and drama blur as the actors are confused by what is real and what is acting. The scenes where the characters are 'acting' are caricatures of wooden acting, with rigid poses for different lines, whilst the 'real-life' is more naturalistic. There is a good contrast between the two types of scene.

In Acting Exercise we see Rowan (Matthew Duggan) an actor rehearsing his lines until Geoffrey (Daniel Dresner) enters demanding his wife back, because he believes that Rowan is having an affair with her. Rowan and Geoffrey discuss the situation, and Rowan convinces Geoffrey that it is not true. But after Geoffrey leaves Rowan finds a change in the way he can rehearse his lines. For Geoffrey it is his real life, but for Rowan is it just an acting exercise? For me this is the best of the three plays and both actors interact well. Daniel Dresner's Geoffrey is very funny, with a great physicality that adds to his character.

'Last Things' is a charming little play performed by two veteran actors about two veteran actors who wake from their dreams to find that they are dead. They have taken their final bow. Howard (Julian Roberts) and Lily (Beryl Nesbitt) husband and wife actors, who once they realise they are dead reminisce about their lives and careers. Both actors are great.

ABOUT US | PAST PRODUCTIONS | COMING UP | CONTACT US
© 2005, BLUE BUD STAGE COMPANY