From Parish Pump of February 2008

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THE DICK, THE DOG, AND THE BUTLER

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   Take the following ingredients:

 

• One American private detective, played by two different people, who happen to be brothers

• Seven other characters, who appear to be in an entirely different play set in a remote English stately pile

• A wrinkled old retainer, played by an actor who is half the age of the rest of the cast

• A doctor sporting both stockings and a moustache – and who is not played by Jeremy Irwin-Singer

• A femme fatale with a cat on her head

• Two English chaps with the intellectual intensity of a LED lightbulb

• And a prompter with more lines than the rest of the cast put together

 

   Simmer gently and try and make some sense of what on earth is going on. If baffled, add wine. This will not help with the bafflement, but it will hurt less.

   At this point it is customary in a review to give a precis of the plot, but in this case we are not sure that this is entirely possible, or frankly even safe. Suffice to say that all too bizarrely we hurtled towards a denouement in which everyone seemed to be guilty, particularly the butler. But of course, it was the dog what done it after all. And finally just when we thought it was time to head for the bar, in a final ghastly twist the two detectives returned to threaten us with a sequel.

   Congratulations to the erstwhile cast of stalwarts, Alan and Barry Heath, Julia Neame, Mowbrays major (Clive) and minor (Oliver), Sue Ashforth-Smith, Jeremy Irwin-Singer and Lynne Savege, for giving us a night out that was truly incredible in every sense of the word. Also a huge thanks to the behind the scenes helpers, and to the kitchen crew who surpassed themselves with a magnificent feast as varied and copious as the cast themselves. And finally to Richard Martin, script molester and producer, for both a particularly woollen performance as the Dead Body, and for once again proving that you can never have too many Dicks in a Filkins Theatre production.

 

   Avril & Charlie Payne