View from the Green Room: Riotous Disorder
Cast and crew of Dungarvan Dramatic's Out of Order.
On a bitterly cold November night, Dungarvan Dramatic raises the temperature with a high-tempo bedroom farce that’s packed with more twists than you would find on a corkscrew.
A cheesy set with three doors and a large sash window provides more entries and exits than a warehouse.
It’s the perfect setting for frantic in and outs amid threatening knocks that seem determined to undermine a planned night of passion.
With characters called Richard Willey – his friends call him Dicky (‘nuff said) – and every woman in a nightdress or less, the play powers its way forward as every situation resolved leads to even more complications.
Tory Junior Minister Willey (Mike Keep) plans a night of passion at the up-market Westminster Hotel in room 648 with Labour Party leader’s private secretary Jane Worthington (Lily Gierczewski).
Unfortunately, a dead body (Tomás Ó Hogáin) is trapped in the sash window.
Avoiding a scandal, their hapless attempts to dispose of the body – hiding it in a wardrobe, draping it over a chaise, dancing with it in a threesome, wheeling it around the hotel in a wheelchair etc – only lead to more complications as the plot descends down several rabbit holes.
The weakness of the script is that every character that appears leads to a Q&A that becomes repetitive and the plot is virtually irresolvable as the curtain falls.
Nevertheless, the splendid performances of the cast make for an entertaining night that’s packed with fun.
Pat Power is scene-stealer-in-chief as Willey’s parliamentary secretary George Pigden, who is tasked with cleaning up the mess.
Bewildered George, still living with his elderly mother, is forced to pretend that he’s a doctor with three mistresses (the maid, the Minister’s wife and his mother’s nurse) – all of whom end up on the balcony of the sixth floor or in the closet – spends the evening wondering what he’s doing here.
Dave Pollock is superb as the laconic in-and-out waiter who makes a fortune in tips – he even takes American Express – as he supplies all the necessary tools Wiley needs to resolve the situations.
Ruaidhrí de Paor is perfect as the prudish hotel manager who is unhappy with what’s going on in his hotel, while Mairéad Duggan delights in her role as the observant hotel maid.
When the spouses show up, it’s merry mayhem. Lily Gierczewski is great fun as scantily-clad Jane Worthington; Ger Devine makes the most of her role as Minister’s wife Pamela, who decides to surprise her husband, and Macaelach McBride as Gladys reveals interesting sides to her straight-laced nurse to George’s mother.
John Flynn is excellent as Ronnie, a not-to-be-crossed husband to Jane, who spends the evening looking for his wife’s lover, and Tomás Ó Hogáin plays a stormer as the dead body.
Mike Keep gives a fine performance as a frantic Tory Junior Minister who’s determined to avoid a scandal at all costs.
The plot is so complicated that it’s hard to know who’s been lied to and by whom, who characters are as they assume multiple identities, why everyone exits through the bedroom window, why the female cast are required to undress down to nighties and remain in a closet with a dead body and why – as George constantly moans – they just don’t call the police.
Great craic from Dungarvan Dramatic and well done to Director Des Feeney for maintaining a strong pace throughout.
