Review

The Country Neighbour

If you were at the Village Hall for the Basildonians’ production of ‘Hotel Paradiso’ you would have had tears of laughter streaming down your face, and a jolly good lift to the spirits. The play is, literally, a ‘farce’ – a ridiculous, fast-paced romp of happy misadventure. Clandestine couples, a haunted hotel, and … well, you can imagine the rest! This kind of play requires real comic skill, and the Basildonians brought it off magnificently.

The plot centres on Monsieur Cot, neglectful of his beautiful wife (‘one can’t be responsive with one’s own wife’). She decides to pay him back by means of an assignation with her henpecked neighbour, Monsieur Boniface, at – you guessed it – the Hotel Paradiso.

The highlight of the production was Stuart Frodsham’s Monsieur Boniface (‘a nervous, meticulous little man in middle years’), with Peter Nightingale’s edgy, offhand Monsieur Cot as a close second. Gillian Lee as Boniface’s domineering wife was spot on, and Sarah Pearce was splendid as Madame Cot, establishing just the right balance between wanting to pay her husband back and not looking forward at all to a night with the fussy Monsieur Boniface.

And – of course –unbeknownst to the would-be lovers, Madame Cot’s husband also happens to be at the Hotel Paradiso that same night! He’s been hired to discover whether the ghosts that haunt the hotel are real, or no more than the noise of drains. The hotel is so full, however, that Monsieur Cot’s room has been double-booked. Monsieur Martin, a friend of the Bonifaces, and his three daughters have been given the same room.

The tension is heightened by Monsieur Cot’s nephew (an effete student, performed well by Adam Nightingale) arriving with the Bonifaces’ precocious maid (played confidently by Henri Bailey).

One totally comic moment is when Boniface is taken ill during his attempts to seduce Madame Cot, and is convinced he is dying of indigestion. Stuart Frodsham and Sarah Pearce did this scene extremely well. Stuart Frodsham’s skill was also apparent when Boniface doesn’t realise that his face is blacked up after hiding in the fireplace. This was hilarious.

Another excellent performance was that of Tony Place, whose character Monsieur Martin suffers from a ‘slight difficulty in speaking’ when the weather is bad. Tony Place maintained an endearing and eye-wateringly funny stutter throughout the play. His three daughters (Trish Whitham, Erena Burton and Helen Brodie/Izzy Burton), complete with pig tails, lacrosse sticks and a weird giggle, were also convincing.

The near-meetings of Cot and Martin in their double-booked room, the near-misses of Martin discovering his friend Boniface on the razzle with Madame Cot, the threat that Boniface will be discovered by his maid, and indeed the anticipation that Cot will discover his wife with Boniface – all these frantic comings and goings were neatly timed and delivered. And when the three girls change into their white nightdresses, well, it would be easy enough for Peter Nightingale’s Martin to mistake them for very real ghosts, wouldn’t it? You can imagine quick repartee and wild movements that follow.

A good production must have skilful actors in the smaller parts, too, and the Basildonians pulled out trumps here. Rhys Hamilton and Henry Smithson were both excellent as the Italian hotel owner and his assistant; Nick Thorowgood and Angela Crompton’s joint cameo as a Wooster-ish Duke on a night out with an actress worked well; and Mark Burton was amusing as a disgruntled Arab guest. Even the porter, in a brief appearance by the Director Alan Matthews, got a laugh with his heavy cases.

So how does all this to-ing and fro-ing at the Hotel Paradiso work out in the end? A police raid (efficiently played by Peter Mason and Mark Burton), Madame Cot and Monsieur Boniface cross-naming themselves, the return of Boniface’s wife, a well-timed thunderstorm setting off Martin’s stutter, and Madame Cot’s mauve dress being worn by the maid. All turns out well, of course, and no one is hurt or even compromised. Only Monsieur Boniface loses out – he never got hold of Madame Cot and his 20,000 franc bribe to the police was returned to Cot’s nephew: ‘It’s a disaster! I’ve kept me virtue and lost me francs!’

Director Alan Matthew and Producer Gill Reid are to be warmly congratulated for conceiving and executing such a demanding play so very well. The set was magnificent (thanks to Paddy Graham and his team) and the costumes sumptuous (thanks to Sue Thorowgood). Split-second timing was needed for sound and lighting, and Mike Baker did everything faultlessly. And the bar was great, too, complete with a keg of West Berkshire Brewery’s excellent ‘Good Old Boy’. Audiences were large – if you missed it, you missed a real treat.

Myra Cottingham