7 Deadly Sins - four deadly sinners

‘Seven Deadly Sins - Four Deadly Sinners’ is a one hour-fifty minute production, including the 20-minute interval. Norman Hudis (he wrote the first of his six ‘Carry On’ films) has devised this anthology, and then along with Marc Sinden compiled the stories. The compilation, which has toured the UK for almost seven years, is presented by Onward Production in association with Black Swan State Theatre Company at the Playhouse Theatre, 3 Pier Street, Perth. Performances at 7.30 pm until 31^st October, with a Sunday matinee on the 1^st November at 5.30.

            The show is basically a set of moved readings, with the actors carrying around their scripts (as demanded by the author) although most of the lines were delivered without any need to read.

Costumes are by the internationally renowned gown designer, WA’s very own, Aurelio Costarella, who has suppliers in the five continents. His choice of design and colour for each actress was stunning. Forget the tat that is often worn at the Oscars, this was true elegance.

Set and lighting designer is Andrew Portwine, who correctly went for the simple but adequate approach. HotBed’s sound designer, Ben Collins, who recently had great success with ‘Pool (no water)’ here had some very low level inserts, ranging from a barrel organ to chime tintinnabulation.

In London, there was a ‘pool’ of more than two dozen actors, with four being selected – almost at random - each night. With this style of show, I expect they would have had problems. This type of presentation is not simply a matter of putting on a few well-known personalities, the performances demanded all the skills of a quality storyteller, a stand-up comedienne, impersonator, great communication, expressive faces and natural body language, the Perth team were tremendous.

Director, Kate Cherry, with her associate director Marcelle Schmitz, has chosen a magnificent cast.

The house roared with laughter as Rebecca Davis performed a sketch as Victoria Wood at the bus stop, Alison van Reeken as Barbara Windsor and again as Steven Berkoff’s ‘young girl at a party’. Then Jenny Davis was the delightful Joyce Grenfell, with Wendy Hughes giving a day in the life of a sloth.

There were several hundred well-sourced, bawdy and enchanting extracts. They ranged from Robin Williams’s, right back to Chaucer’s ‘Woman of Bath’ - hilariously related by Alison.

With strong direction, and perfect enunciation, the brief snippets were cleverly delivered. The first Act was mainly snappy pieces that – despite absolutely perfect delivery – having no storyline, they were a little tiring to keep up with. The second half I found much more audience friendly, with a charming short song and dance, and longer stories being related.

Very clever show, great production, fabulous team, giving plenty of smiles and belly laughs.