Two couples and no less than eight different situations, in which they acted, interacted and generally kept the audience in fits. Michael Frayn's Alarms and Excursions directed by Simone Ellul at the Manoel Theatre reminded me more of the Catherine Tate Show or Little Britain as there was nothing profound about it or meaningful apart from confirming to us all that for most of the time we are over-dominated by our own technology. I will never forget the time at the Manoel a couple of years ago when my own mobile phone which was on silent mode decided to vibrate like a swarm of angry bumble bees and embarrassed me no end. Yes. Technology, although designed for our convenience, is fallible; simply because, we, the operators, are fallible. There were also sketches in which there was no reference to technology but which stressed the absurdity of coincidental situations and misunderstandings. I did in fact find the whole thing rather tedious especially in the second half, simply because the two larger sketches in the first had, at least in my opinion, already said it all.
The second half, far more than the first, was a bewildering series of no less than six itsybitsy sketches culminating in the highly dated Immobiles in which the answer phone takes centre stage causing no end of misunderstandings between a couple, a German tourist and a tweed and pearls mother-in-law. Unfortunately it was all too dated. Mobile phones would have solved the whole thing beautifully.
I remember a time not so long ago when we did not have mobile phones and how I had left a message on somebody else's mobile by mistake; the consequences were appalling! Technology seems to move so fast that today going anywhere without a mobile is unthinkable and those people who have so far resisted getting one are considered to be dinosaurs. Incidentally, the announcement before Manoel Theatre performances needs to be brought up to date as it refers to pagers! I really do not know anyone who has a pager!
To get back to Alarms and Excursions, the pace was unflaggingly fast. The quartet of Malcolm and Angele Galea, Paul Cilia and Abigail Williams proved to be versatile and conveyed Frayn's impish sense of humour in no uncertain terms. The acting was superb and managed to compete in slickness with anything we see on the telly. What I found thoroughly unpalatable was the bewildering variety of accents that were put on. Some were excellent but others, like Baroness Armament's transatlantic drawl in Glassnost were terrible. I really do not know why Ms Ellul chose an American accent for this character, which, being a Right Honourable KO GBH RSVP could not have been anything else but English. I may have missed something here but she was as we say "the garlic clove on the soufflé"! Another accent that failed miserably was the mother-in-law's in Immobiles. Maybe Ms Williams needed to spend some time in Fortnum and Mason's to learn the accent and above all the disposition of a formidable member of the tweed, twin-set and pearls brigade a bit better.
All in all just over a couple of hours of fast show entertainment the type of which we are overdosed with on TV; nothing to write home about. I would prefer comedy that is a bit more subtle and which does not consist of a wannabe BBC script that somehow found itself in a theatre! What happened to poor Noel Cowerd? What about Oscar Wilde?
The second half, far more than the first, was a bewildering series of no less than six itsybitsy sketches culminating in the highly dated Immobiles in which the answer phone takes centre stage causing no end of misunderstandings between a couple, a German tourist and a tweed and pearls mother-in-law. Unfortunately it was all too dated. Mobile phones would have solved the whole thing beautifully.
I remember a time not so long ago when we did not have mobile phones and how I had left a message on somebody else's mobile by mistake; the consequences were appalling! Technology seems to move so fast that today going anywhere without a mobile is unthinkable and those people who have so far resisted getting one are considered to be dinosaurs. Incidentally, the announcement before Manoel Theatre performances needs to be brought up to date as it refers to pagers! I really do not know anyone who has a pager!
To get back to Alarms and Excursions, the pace was unflaggingly fast. The quartet of Malcolm and Angele Galea, Paul Cilia and Abigail Williams proved to be versatile and conveyed Frayn's impish sense of humour in no uncertain terms. The acting was superb and managed to compete in slickness with anything we see on the telly. What I found thoroughly unpalatable was the bewildering variety of accents that were put on. Some were excellent but others, like Baroness Armament's transatlantic drawl in Glassnost were terrible. I really do not know why Ms Ellul chose an American accent for this character, which, being a Right Honourable KO GBH RSVP could not have been anything else but English. I may have missed something here but she was as we say "the garlic clove on the soufflé"! Another accent that failed miserably was the mother-in-law's in Immobiles. Maybe Ms Williams needed to spend some time in Fortnum and Mason's to learn the accent and above all the disposition of a formidable member of the tweed, twin-set and pearls brigade a bit better.
All in all just over a couple of hours of fast show entertainment the type of which we are overdosed with on TV; nothing to write home about. I would prefer comedy that is a bit more subtle and which does not consist of a wannabe BBC script that somehow found itself in a theatre! What happened to poor Noel Cowerd? What about Oscar Wilde?