HAUNTED (Wolverhampton Grand Theatre) July 2012

Ron Aldridge's Haunted plays in Wolverhampton this week in place of the originally scheduled Dry Rot. This production extends the summer play season into a fifth week with three of the four actors returning for a second time this season. It is the second Ron Aldridge play this year - the first being You're Only Young Twice. This play couldn't be any different.

Haunted quickly goes from being rather an erotic play to one that deeply explores the consciousness of the mind. It follows Paul Pengelly (Peter Amory) a double-murderer who has been found not guilty on both accounts. He's starting the life he always wanted but things soon take a sinister turn when his victims appear in his head and will not leave until he confesses to murder.

The two victims, Susan Pengelly (Joanne Heywood) and Richard Tremayne (Nick Ricketts) have a lot to do. Original tactics to edge Peter into confession is to repeatedly tease and taunt him. Not only is this annoying for Peter who is trying to get on with his life but also for the audience who are trying to watch. I couldn't help but feel Peter's agitation and annoyance, which (in a way) is the play working as it should. I could definitely sympathise with Peter, but he's a murderer - he deserves it!

Peter's new love Melanie is played by Nicola Weeks. Interestingly, Amory and Weeks were a couple (Susan and Ray) last week in The Final Test and are together again as Peter and Melanie this week. They work very well together and managed to switch from last week's couple to this week's very different pair.

Alan Miller Bunford's sets return again and this one, a charming lilac bedroom is lit cold and more harshly as the storyline gets grittier and more intense.

The programme features an article about various stage and film ghosts, one of which being Sam Wheat from Ghost. Ghost being a recent screen-to-stage adaptation features special effects and illusions to as part of a multi-million pound musical production in London. Surprisingly this smaller production also features illusions to enforce the ghost-like qualities of the actors who to look at are no different in appearance to the living characters.

You really have to concentrate in this one. There's a lot of supernatural explaining and understanding and at times switching between real-time action to reenactments of the past without obvious notice. Distraction techniques work well to showcase the illusions. The play runs at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre until Saturday 28th July after finishing a small UK tour in May. This is your last chance to see it and is definitely worth considering.

Website: http://iandickensinternational.com/productions/haunted.html

Tickets: http://www.grandtheatre.info/WhatsOn_focus.asp?ShowId=618&sC=page10

DEAD RINGER (UK Tour) July 2012

Dead Ringer, a political thriller by Charles Ross. Heard of it? Didn't think so. I hadn't either, nor the cast before being handed the script. The story unfolds at number 10 Downing Street after the Prime Minister dies on the eve of an election. In order to keep their jobs those around him hatch a plan that involves hiring a look-a-like out of work actor to take his place. It's very far-fetched.

I couldn't help but thinking to myself "would this really happen?". It's difficult to believe that close relations of the Prime Minister including the Queen would initially fail to recognise the impostor. It was a lot of fun, farcical and witty - but the reality of the whole situation was ludicrous.

This is the second play of four that feature in the Ian Dickens Summer Play Season at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre. David Callister who plays Prime Minister Randolph Jackson and impersonator Gerry Jackson has a lot to do, and manages well with acting as an actor who is acting as the character he played for the first ten minutes - yes, really. Chris Ellison, Frank Burnside in the Bill and Boyard in a later series of Fort Boyard with his hard-man image made for a perfect Colonel Hardacre.

Joanne Heywood and Tony Adams (both pictured above) gave strong performances as Eva Bolton and Ray Turnbull. There was great character in Josh Hall's Nigel Heywood. It is a shame that he didn't appear for longer, with only a few brief appearances. It seems to be the case with these plays that the popular comedic character you'd like to see most has the least to do. Josh Hall is however credited in the programme as Assistant Stage Manager and understudy along with Neve Breen. 

Alan Miller Bunford's set for this production is a lot more practical than his creation for last week's The Cemetery Club. And with no set changes, the breaks between scenes were very short. 

The play as a whole is an interesting one. I'm not the best when it comes to understanding politics (and neither are the cast they admitted afterwards) and that side of the play was completely over my head. But what is interesting about this one, regardless of political understanding is the motives of those covering up the death and watching the situation evolve into a detective 'whodunit' mystery. There is enthusiasm aplenty within the cast, apart from that is to say the weakest and most feeble gunshot I've ever seen on stage. It makes for an entertaining night out. 

Dead Ringer runs at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre until Saturday 7th July before continuing on a UK tour.

(With Tony Adams, Chris Ellison, David Callister and Joanne Heywood)

Website: http://iandickensinternational.com/productions/deadringer.html