murder most funny
If by the end of another arduous eight weeks in Oxford you are rather clutching at straws for things to celebrate, fear not for it is the 70th anniversary of the birth of playwright Peter Shaffer. Let your hair down, put on a party hat and a t-shirt with ‘Pete for president’ written on it. Alternatively, if you are feeling too exhausted and overwhelmed you could spend a diverting hour or so plunged into darkness.
Black Comedy is a typical farce with the atypical addition of the Chinese concept of reversing light and dark, so although for the audience the stage is fully lit, the characters (a somewhat one dimensional gallery of fools) scrabble and grope in obscurity. Misadventure is heaped on misadventure as an ex-girlfriend, a fi ancée, a German millionaire and a power cut conspire to cause disaster in the life of the central character Brindsley Miller (Ben Carson).
As if this wasn’t catastrophic enough, Brindsley’s theft of his next door neighbour’s furniture forces him to keep all the characters in the dark; unfortunate given that he is a sculptor. By the end of the play it is the Chinese darkness alone that rescues Brindsley from the murderous intentions of pretty much all the protagonists.
It’s a snowball of a plot that is saved from being little more than white fl uff by the odd moment of satire such as when Brindsley’s sloaney fi ancée Carol Melkett observes, “Ever since the Beatles, the working classes think they can do whatever they like.” Despite this, all the fumbling, squinting and fake accents do become a little wearing and often unconvincing. This is the fault of the play, not of the actors who are highly competent and appear to be enjoying themselves.
Ben Carson is excellent as an increasingly frantic Brindsley, skilfully holding the action together in a manner which testifi es to his LAMDA training. The supporting actors do what they can with fl at, stereotypical characters. Ian Runacress turns Harold Gorringe (Brindsley’s next door neighbour) into a disturbing cross between David Dickinson and Graham Norton. The production is slick, with set and costumes that make us pity the characters’ inability to see them.
Black Comedy remains just the right side of irritating by being well acted and well timed. If you want to be amused rather than inspired in the last week of term then this is the play for you.
2nd Mar 2006