Show: Death by Design
Venue: The Sydenham Centre. 44a Sydenham Road, London SE26 5QX
Credits: By Rob Urbinati
Type: Sardines
Author: Susan Elkin
Performance Date: 18/06/2022
Death by Design
Susan Elkin | 19 Jun 2022 16:53pm
Rob Urbinati’s 2013 play, which was new to me, is an amusing pastiche on the murder mystery concept, set in 1932 and pitched somewhere between Noel Coward and Agatha Christie. It’s also a take off of a traditional drawing room drama – set in one room in a country house at Cookham and manages to poke quite a lot of fun at theatre itself. Moreover, we see servants refusing to be servants and giving as good as they get and that’s a long tradition too. Think of The Marriage of Figaro, The Servant of Two Masters, Jeeves or all those knowing companion/advisers in Shakespeare.
Edward Bennett (Ben Sutherland) is a playwright or “platitudinarian” as he describes himself. His wife Sorel (Gabriela Jones) is his usual leading lady and they’ve just returned to their Surrey home after a disastrous opening night. He speaks in a distorted, tortured, affected form of RP (tens-i-on, mayervellous etc) which must be hard to maintain but Sutherland carries it off, She is an outrageous, flirty, capricious over-actor and it’s perfectly obvious why Gertrude Lawrence, of whom she is passionately jealous, is much better. Both Jones and Sutherland are very funny and there’s real chemistry in their scenes together.
Various characters arrive because that’s what happens in country house dramas and when there’s a murder you need plenty of suspects. Tara Frost is outstanding as Victoria Van Roth, a colourful, pretentious artist who can get a laugh simply by flicking one of her several scarves. Gary Stewart is strong as a left wing activist wearing red braces and often the voice of reason. And I really liked Alan Parry Robert’s work as Jack, the womanising chauffeur who sports a very authentic gor-blimey accent except when he’s mimicking one of the others.
Of course – this is theatre for the love of it, after all – not every actor in this show is quite as strong as some of the others but they are a slick team of eight who never allow the pace to flag – essential for a play of this type. Because it’s a take off, nothing is ever quite as it seems and the cast handle every twist with fine comic timing.
Director Mark Harrington has evidently drawn the best from the company and the audience was volubly appreciative at the performance I saw. Interesting too to see St George’s Players temporarily away from their accustomed setting and in a new (to them) venue. The Sydenham Centre offers a simple but quite spacious playing area which works pretty well for this show.
Fabulous evening spent watching this production. We really enjoyed every comical moment!