The Venetian Twins

Peasant that I am, when I was last in Stratford Upon Avon, it was for a Bentley Drivers Club meet. I’m sad to say I did not once go near a theatre, although that weekend I did dance with a lady who’s day job was in Transylvania, performing as a tour guide at Dracula’s Castle - her bite was far more interesting than her bark - but I digress. Vanessa Jensen saw “The Venetian Twins” performed at Stratford Upon Avon in 1993. I’m glad she did, for she has brought a wonderful piece of comedy theatre to the stage.

My friend and I attended the Saturday (2nd August) performance at The Old Mill, not quite sure what genre we were going to see. I liked the no-curtain open set, it was visually very appealing and instantly told the story and set the scene, (Hywell Williams to the fore and good to see Tony Ridout involved), but on with the show, within a couple of minutes, we were grinning and chuckling, not long after that, we were laughing like drains. We were still laughing on the way home.

Unfortunately the best lines belong to the men in the show (we’ll get to them in a minute), however the ladies were fabulous with special mention for Stephanie Beeby, for her wonderful expressions and Brenda Evans has a presence that hopefully will continue to be nurtured – one hastens to add, I’m not for one minute leaving out Jessica, Sarah, Lisa and Jodie, all of whom demonstrated considerable (and obvious) experience and craft. But tonight, by the grace of the playwright, Carlo Goldoni, was for the boys and bloody hell, did they go for it.

There were some great minor characterisations, by old hands such as Peter Bloor and Warren McGrath and also good onya Ian Black for stepping into the limelight. That motorbike riding Welshman Hywel, proved adroit in playing a scheming, love-struck Venetian and Gary Davies was very good as the turncoat friend, with only Phil Mackenzie’s role as the Doctor, seeming a little weak, when swamped by the over-the-top lead role characters, which leads me to Jeff Watkins and Theo Messenger.

Gentlemen, bloody magnificent, wonderful, just glorious. Jeff plays the dandy fop, perfectly. He is quite mesmerizingly funny, with his physical characterisation the equal of his vocal efforts. It is truly a magnificently funny performance. Theo Messenger’s twin-roles performance is hats-off material. His ability to switch basically instantly from one character to another is astounding, his comic ability is superb and his improvised banter with an audience member, bordered on genius – compliments also to the unnamed gentleman in the second row, who tossed back lines like a pro.

It’s a big cast, the sword fights were excellent, the cast was obviously enjoying themselves and the comedy timing was exquisite. This was amateur theatre at its best, I would recommend this production to anybody. Vanessa Jensen, her cast and The Old Mill have created something special. I note that it’s almost sold out, however there were still some tickets on Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th, a few seats on Friday 8th and four single seats on the final night. Congratulations to everyone, I wish I had half the talent of you people.

All Good Things Greg Ross

Disclaimer: Peter Bloor and Hywel Williams are friends, as are several of the production team.

It's a fun show to both watch and be a part of. The cast and crew are fantastic. It has been a wonderful experience for me, and I hope all of us. Thanks Greg for your wonderfully positive review. Let's keep it up guys.

Absit invidia

Jeff Watkins

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If I may be so bold, what was weak? Is it something that I can perhaps improve on?

Always a willing student.

Absit invidia

Jeff Watkins

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Thanks for the update on the lady.

I was at the performance & I'm glad she is recovering.

The show it's self was out of the box!

The set design mise en scene were great, well worked out with the 'Aditos' ramp on the apron. Which allowed easy egress of the cast, via the 'parados' [PS] aisle in the auditorium.

I was a complete wally, when choosing my seat & me being blind on my left side. So after the interval I managed to move down to a spare seat in the front on the OP side. [thanks Ailsa for the heads up on the vacant seat] Also I must applaud the handling of the situation, with the Lady punter, who fainted. It was handled without any fuss or drama & very efficiently by the Lighting Operator Sue Lynch, SM Anne Barnard & the Bar Manager Gary Lawrence & all the FOH staff. The chain of communications with the cast & techies was carried out seamlessly. With house light going to half allowing the Lady to be taken care off by FOH & the resumption of the show. Fantastically well executed on the part of the Old Mill Cast, Crew & FOH Staff.

Which also gave me the opportunity to observe that the safety chains [cables] were on the all the lighting equipment. Well done Hywell & Lars Jenson for ensuring they are provided & not forgotten to be utilised.

In the second half I wasn't sure it was such a good idea to switch seats, to down the front. With Zanetto [Theo Messenger] sword, which was generally well behaved, except during some of his more comical cavorting on the apron ramp. Also the FOH Bar lighting was quite good heat therapy on my shoulders, in attempting to cover all the action on the extended apron. Without the use of Perch's cross focus lighting being available, it is always a problem cutting in the beam masking. I was very impressed the artistic scenic painting of Lynn Mosedale, I thought at first it was an Oilio back cloth, but have been assured since since by Hywell, they were actually flats used. Which is the beauty of using calico Dutchman on the joints, because the texture melds with the flats skin & give the illusion of a complete flush canvas oilio back drop.

The safety lighting on the central aisle is a problem with blackouts, but this is being attended to & other fittings & globes are being sourced. As they are difficult to replace the bubble & the plan is to relocate them to the edge of the seating, which is a far better idea. However the Exit lighting adjacent to proscenium tormentors, may take a lot more innovative investigation to reduce spillage onto the stage area. But at least the exit affords some stage work lighting, which is better than having those 'brown out' scene changes.

One very minor thing with the hand mirror prop used, if the surface was spayed with hair spray. This will diffuse the reflected lighting flashing the punters & set during any movement in the hand.

The performance is the best I have seen for a long while! Which is a pity that it will close, although it has full houses? I realise it is always difficult to extend, especially as the Old Mill is also a 'rent House', with future scheduling to consider. But maybe some thought could be put into flexibility of seasons, when organising the yearly calendar. Utilising more off site rehearsals or whatever, that eat up the available slots? As the Old Mill must be now one of the shinning Jewels in the crown of local Comeatres.