Well Played
★★★★☆ Snappy
theSpace @ Venue 45 (Venue 45): Mon 19 – Sat 24 Aug 2024
Review by Rebecca Mahar
Well Played from Josie Rose Productions is the kind of work you hope to see at the Fringe: new writing performed to a high standard by up and coming artists; needs work, but is getting the opportunity to grind off its rough edges in front of an enthusiastic crowd.
Snappy from the get-go, Well Played leaps immediately into the world of struggling Broadway writer-producer married couple August and Harry Mentiri in their dilapidated office.
The Well Played cast in rehearsal. Pic: Josie Rose Productions.
When playwright Susan Ragnor — endowed with a wealthy uncle — wanders in, seemingly by accident thinking she’s in the office of a more successful production company, August wastes no time in creating a charade to produce Susan’s play, and secure a large payout for the Mentiris.
Harry is reluctant to go along with this for more reasons than simple legality, as the plot thickens, and hijinks ensue.
Set in 1955 New York City, the quality of accents among the non-American members of the cast (that is, all but Liv Siegel, who appears briefly near the end of the production) varies widely. All make good efforts, but are tripped up by common errors with rhoticity and certain vowels. August (played by writer Josie Rose Embleton) and Harry (Sam McMeikan) are particularly wobbly at the beginning, but settle into their accents more confidently as the play progresses.
There are also some dialectical elements that need a bit more research; Irish Susan Ragnor (Francesca Carter) might be forgiven for pronouncing Hermia as her-MY-a in America, but not Harry Mentiri.
visible smoking
Well Played falls into a common trap of period pieces in thinking that it needs to have visible smoking onstage in order to be authentic. While it’s true that smoking would have been ubiquitous at this time, poor representation of it onstage is worse than none.
Bad cigarette handling, a complete lack of ashtrays, no lighters, and the use of cheap, low-end props requiring actors to exhale through them to produce a piddly spurt of powder “smoke”, all detract from the performances far more than a simple absence of smoking would, or some other combination of well-done elements. Better to have convincing prop handling and no visible smoke.
Apart from these technical errors, the performances are universally excellent. The company (rounded out by Jorgie Buchan, Dylan Baxendale, Jordan Monks and Tom Catton) is composed entirely of recent graduates and current students, largely from performance programmes, or with extensive experience, showing their training and what highly motivated young artists can do with an independent production.
tight and unpretentious
Clare Wootton’s direction is tight and unpretentious, aware that the script owes much to whodunits and comedies of manners that have come before (indeed, there’s a dinner scene that could stand up to any Noël Coward tea party), and requires only a light touch to focus the energy of her performers into a fast but not frantic ensemble production.
While there are elements that could do with refining, such as the repeated interjections from a voiceover of future-August, which are entirely unnecessary, the script is strong. Its plot twists aren’t unpredictable, but in this case that’s an example of good storytelling: lay out the dots, and let the audience connect them.
Well Played has landed an unenviable early (for the Fringe) morning slot, but is well worth making the trek down to Jeffrey Street for at that hour. If you come in sleepy, you’ll be wide awake as soon as the lights come up on this fun, energetic and – yes – well-played new comedy.
Running time: 55 minutes (no interval)
theSpace @ Venue 45, 63 Jeffrey Street EH1 1DH (Venue 45)
Monday 19 – Saturday 24 August 2024
Daily: 10.15 am
Details and tickets at: Book here
Instagram: @wellplayedfringe
ENDS
