Design for Living

What a way to end a season  ̶  sore sides from laughing!

Don’t blame Noël Coward’s clever writing entirely. Director Wesley Enoch and his carefully chosen cast never miss a comedic opportunity.

Richard Robert’s 1930s costumes and stunning sets that roll forward to bring the action to the audience all have the Aaahhh factor.  Ben Hughes’ lighting highlights the glamour and Tony Brumpton’s carefully chosen period jazz numbers capture the era.

The acting is superb. The central trio whose creative lives and loves we are privy to over some years and three cities  ̶  Jason Klarwein (the artist, Otto), Tama Matheson, (Leo, the playwright) and Kellie Lazarus (interior designer)  ̶carry the action. In particular the last scene in Act 1 is an exemplary piece of acting; likewise Leo and Otto’s unforgettable drunk scene at the end of Act 2.

Coward uses ancillary characters (easy in the 1930s when minor actors were paid a pittance for their chance to appear and establish credentials), not one of whom is an ‘extra’ here: International cabaret star in his first straight theatre role, Fez Faanana, makes every appearance a major comedy moment; Carol Burns’s Grace Thomas is the epitome of the 30s new rich; Trevor Stuart’s Art Dealer, Ernest, reveals how the upper class survived the Great Depression; Andrea Moor is almost too real as the upwardly mobile Helen Carver (but I challenge you to recognise her in her other role); and do you recognise Bryan Probets as her husband?

This show is bangs for bucks for everyone.

Jay McKee

Images (top) L-R- Tama Matheson, Kellie Lazarus & Jason Klarwein; (middle) Andrea Moor & Fez Faanana and (lower) L-R- Jason Klarwein, Tama Matheson, Kellie Lazarus. Photographer: Rob Maccoll