It Could Be Any One Of Us!

I saw this show last night at Harbour Theatre. I AM on the HTC committee and I DID help with set construction, but otherwise I have no connection with the production. In director Pat Stroud's program notes, she quotes an earlier reviewer who said " Ayckbourn...sends up the Christie type of thriller while displaying admirable sympathy for the army of people whose artistic reach wildly exceeds its grasp". On reading this before curtain-up, I at first thought this was a patronising reference to community theatre audiences, or perhaps actors. Its true meaning was however revealed before long into the play. To my fellow reviewers who tend to get bewildered if they cannot fit a play into a particular 'genre', I say beware of this one. It is actually a comedy, but has many of the elements of a 'suspense drama' - maybe even a 'psychological thriller'. It even has some live music in it, although I wouldn't go so far as to suggest it could fall into the 'musical' 'genre'. As is often the case, the characterisations varied in strength somewhat across the board and some of the more subtle humour was lost on the audience, but on the whole it was an excellent night's entertainment. My particular congrats to Tim Prosser for his inimitable touch on the backdrop. Welcome back, Tim and well done, all.