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 The
Cicala Players in Dr Brent’s Household by Edward Percy
Staged: 15 and 16 November 1954 at the Fortune Theatre Drury
Lane London
 Back once more
in London’s West End, after their performance earlier in the year at the
Toynbee Hall Theatre E1, our intrepid players present their Autumn offering
“Dr Brent’s Household”. It has already
been noted within our “Song and Dance” section, that the Cicala Players
really love to put on something exciting, challenging, sometimes downright
confusing, but always something to which their talented actors and producers
can commit - one hundred percent. This
time there are gloomy scenes of a “mad” wife who returns home from the
asylum. What she finds at home is a major challenge, and Martins Bank
Magazine’s review notes the consequential demands on the actors to meet the
challenge of such a story. Prepare to have your pity, fear and loathing
excited by the performance of Renée Forder as the “mad” wife! On this occasion, due to the illness of one
of their number, the Players have “borrowed” an actor from another local
amateur dramatic society based at Gerrard’s Cross. As you will see elsewhere
on this web site - from the reviews of the many Martins Bank’s Operatic
Society productions - using performers from other groups is nothing new, and
in the case of a complex stage play, or a big production number such as a
Gilbert and Sullivan Opera, it is quite usual to recruit producers, musicians
and other performers to make up the numbers…
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 One thing about
the Cicala Players, they don't mind difficult plays, and Edward Percy's
play “Doctor Brent's Household”, which was their choice for their autumn
production at the Fortune Theatre, is certainly not a play for
inexperienced amateurs. The somewhat gloomy theme of a mad wife who after
seven years in an asylum recovers sufficiently to come home only to find
that her husband, a medical man, has fallen in love with his housekeeper,
who had made a wonderful home for him and his children, is tense and
dramatic throughout, and makes great demands on the actors. Production took
place on two nights, November 15th and 16th.
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Grahame Peck Isabel Simblett Clive
Hamilton Edna Robinson Mary Howse Margaret O’Neill John Cross and Renée
Forder
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Once again, Renee
Forder, as the mad wife, gave us a first-class portrayal which in turn
excited our pity, fear and loathing. Is there a part she can't make a good
job of? She has delighted us for eight years now and our admiration of her
talent grows with each fresh performance. Likewise, Isabel Simblett, who
portrayed the housekeeper. Isabel always looks so nice and dresses so
effectively and her capacity for tense acting is equal to Renee's. The
tenderness of love, her sympathy for those in trouble, her command of facial
expression combines to create an aura around her each time she takes the
stage and she has a wonderful way of projecting her personality across the
footlights.
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Renée Forder John Cross Edna Robinson and
Isabel Simblett
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Grahame Peck Margaret O’Neill and Edna
Robinson
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Edna Robinson as
the daughter was first class. She took the part so naturally, especially in
the later stages of the play where displays of dislike, resentment and even
hatred were called for, that one was never in any danger of being reminded
that it was only Edna after all.
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The part of the
son was played by Grahame Peck of the Gerrards Cross Amateur Dramatic Society,
who undertook the job at short notice owing to the indisposition of Arthur
Chester. We were very grateful to him both for stepping into the breach and
for an excellent performance. Margaret O’Neill played the part of the son’s
fiancée. She did it attractively and competently and made many of
us wish we were young again. A particular delight to us was Mary Howse’s
portrayal of the maid. It was a triumph of make up, dress and acting.
These parts are usually
given to a beginner but when they are entrusted to an amateur as
experienced and as intelligent as Mary, they can be made, as this part was,
into one of the best things in a play. The part of Doctor Brent was played
by John Cross. We thought he should have been made to look the fifteen
years older which the part demanded, and the whole portrayal betrayed the
same youthful approach. For the possessor of a grown-up son and daughter,
we weren’t entirely convinced by the portrayal but this feeling may have
stemmed to some extent from the great strength of the opposition as
represented by Isabel and Renee. The love scenes, which amateurs usually
find so difficult, were excellent. To a lesser extent we had the same
feeling about the other doctor, portrayed by Clive Hamilton.
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Isabel Simblett and Renée Forder
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Make-up was
better but a little more fatherliness would have suited the part better.
This, however, is a very minor criticism for he handled the part extremely
well. The play was produced by Charles Hawkins.
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Sep3M x
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