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 Argosy Players
in: Brush with a Body by Maurice McLoughlin
Staged: 16
to 18 December 1965 at Crane Theatre Hanover Street Liverpool
Described in the
article below as “revitalised”, the Argosy Players take once more to the
stage of Liverpool’s Crane Theatre to offer a three act comedy over a three
night run. What might well have added
to the new vitality of the troupe, and will certainly have added to the
mirth, is the involvement of Eric Wylie, Manager of Martins Bank’s WEST KIRBY Branch, who is well
known for his amazing operatic and amateur dramatic performances, both on and
off-stage.
His performance in
Noel coward’s “Relative Values” was particularly well received when the
Argosy Players chose to perform it for their 1964 Production. The title of
many plays can leave the audience scratching their heads for some kind of
connection with the plot, but this one does exactly what it says on the tin –
there is a brush, and there is a body – for what more could you ask?
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 in two years the revitalised Argosy Players
have demonstrated that they have some excellent talent, so it was
unfortunate that in Brush with a
Body, a three-act play by Maurice McLoughlin, presented at Crane
Theatre from December 16-18, some of this talent was unavailable. Three-act
comedy thrillers usually take time to build up - the first act providing an introduction with merry quips,
the second a build-up of increasing tempo and the third a phrenetic coming
and going. So it was at Crane Theatre…
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 In the first act Glenys Price and Valerie Parish, as happily
contrasted sisters, made the most of their limited opportunities but one
wished that funds had allowed the dress rehearsal to be held on the stage
instead of in the Head Office building so that they could have been given
more to do. However, the arrival of that indefatigable warrior Eric Wylie,
as the Irish sweep, raised hopes that the Players had drawn a winner. He
took charge immediately, made himself comfortably and engagingly at home,
and began to liven up the proceedings.
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Richard Talbot, John Milne, Valerie Parish,
Glenys Price, Maud Melville, Brian Shaw, Eric Wylie
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Barbara Phillips, too, put everything into and extracted
everything from the choice part of the house-keeper.Brian Shaw was probably
too young for the long and exacting role of the psychiatrist brother and
one felt that he and Richard Talbot, who gave a flawless portrayal of the
suave detective inspector, might have changed places with advantage. Nevertheless the constant escalation of
headaches heaped on Brian Shaw were shouldered manfully, although they
would have been
sufficient to drive any mind specialist mindless. What can one do when one is
responsible for a missing phobia-ridden heiress, when a voluble and
irrepressible Irishman discovers the remains of a body up the chimney and
when the discovery has to be kept secret? Not surprisingly everybody's
nerves became strained at that point, one sister's boy friend (Peter Smith)
arriving unheralded to add yet another complication. Was his interpolation
really necessary?
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Even he didn't seem to
think so. And then, of course, mother arrived—Maud
Melville—and the play came to life again; the sweep trundled in and out
accumulating sacks, soot and hush money while Maud Melville stamped her
personality on everything. The police arrived too—Richard Talbot, exuding authority and charm, accompanied by
Sgt Bray (John G. Milne) whose under-emphasis of the supporting role was
exactly right. His fascination for the housekeeper's protuberant proboscis
drove him to test its reality in the privacy of the kitchen, and his
demeanour when subsequently reprimanded by his superior was positively
touching. Olga Roberts as
the nut-case heiress was really much too nice to be nutty and Rose Firmin
as the Hon. Pamela Colefax was appropriately but unhorsily haughty as the
psychiatrist's show-jumping fiancee. The Players and producer Frank
Warburton earned full marks for tackling a difficult production with twelve
rehearsals at an awkward time of the banking year to attract maximum
support.
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Eric Wylie, Rose Firmin, Brian Shaw
and Olga Roberts
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But nobody fluffed,
everyone tried, and nearly all succeeded.One hopes there will be a next
time when more time, money and talent can be spared to ensure that the many
well-wishers are entertained as ably as in the past.
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 M
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