Review

Plaza Suite

Playhouse Theatre

THREE plays for the price of one seems a good deal these days. The Lindley Players came up trumps at Whitstable's Playhouse Theatre with Neil Simon's comedy Plaza Suite.

It was the tale of three couples all booked into suite 719 at the New York Plaza Hotel.

First were overworked businessman Sam Nash (brilliantly played by the Lindleys' PR man Peter Bressington) and his long-suffering wife Karen (new-girl Melanie Williamson).

She was a triumph, riding the emotional roller-coaster from planning a surprise night in their honeymoon suite to mark their 24th wedding anniversary to discovering Sam, 51, had been having a secret affair with his secretary Jean (Katy Campbell).

"I am so disappointed with you," she screamed at the top of her voice. "You are so damn unoriginal. Everyone cheats with their secretary."

The pair went from a warring but comedic couple to the sad shell of a failing partnership in the space of 20 minutes. It was, at times, an uncomfortable lesson in marriage.

The second tale starred Mike Rirvano, making his Lindley debut while sporting a natty wig, as Hollywood producer Jesse Kiplinger. He was passing through his old home town and arranged a reunion with his mousey ex-flame of 17 years Muriel Tate, now a mother-of-three, played by Lindley veteran Cheryl Mumford.

He left the audience in no doubt that he was planning to seduce her. But the play proves you should never underestimate the quiet ones – or those with a taste for vodka stingers.

Act three was a strange one with Jacquie White as worried mother-of-the-bride Norma Hubley and Larry Dobin (fresh from playing Dame Dotty Dibble in the panto Jack and the Beanstalk) as her money-obsessed husband Roy.

The couple were desperately trying to coax their tearful daughter Mimsey (Serena Sykes on her first outing for the Lindleys and looking radiant in a stunning bridal gown) from the bathroom to get married. Mimsey was frightened she and her bridegroom Borden (sparkily played by Dan Coles) would end up like her parents.

Neil Simon's script is a tantalising mix of pithy, nicely crafted one-liners merged with cutting, and sometimes uncomfortable, comments about the trials and tribulations of married life. All three directors, Penny Cooper, Wendy Snelgrove and Pip Piacentino, managed to balance it well.

Full marks, too, for Bill Allan's authentic-looking set, sound and lights.

John Nurden.