Sheila Chisholm
NOBODY’s Fool, a sequel to Simon Williams’s Nobody’s Perfect, continues stuttering statistician Lenny Loftus’s deception as romantic novelist Myrtle Banbury. It all began, when Lenny (Neil Leachman) unhappily divorced from Fran, and single parent to teenage daughter Dee Dee (Jessica van den Heever), entered an all woman’s writing competition under the nom de plume Myrtle Banbury, and won.
Now, voluptuous investigative journalist - cum medium - Letitia Butters (Sara Barfoot) wants, no, demands, to interview Myrtle for her popular T.V. show None of your Business. Letitia’s demands go further. She insists Lenny and Myrtle appear together. Only Lenny’s raffish father Gus (Bruce Sanderson) knows Lenny’s dual personality secret. When Dee Dee tells her “Grampie” she’s pregnant by Jason her (now ex) punk boyfriend, discovers her dad’s duplicity and Fran (Dale Etherington) unexpectedly appears, the fun – but not slapstick - gets underway.
Set in present Cape Town, Lenny lives in a flat below Gus. When Gus wants to warn Lenny about some pending (unwelcome) caller he stamps/jumps on the floor. Lenny reciprocates by banging on his ceiling. When no one is within earshot they speak by cell and plan to use a three way phone for Letitia’s interview.
Set designer Fin McCormick cleverly maximises The Playhouse stage to characterise personality differences between father and son. Gus’s area, where most action takes place, is extravagantly comfortable. Lenny’s is spartan. This caused newcomer Etherington some difficulty when talking to Lenny. Clutching her handbag, she remained static for too long as, delivering her lines, she just by moved her head from side to side. Experience will give her stage confidence as well as teaching her to project to the “gods.”
In her Milnerton Players debut van den Heever played her role as Dee Dee just like every teenager behaves - a mix between youthful exuberance and insecurity. Further exposure to working with as fine a director as Sheila McCormick is, should make her a “bright button” on the Amdram scene
Leachman, Sanderson and Barfoot are “old hands at the game” and their combined experience counted. They know how to interact and play off each other. Leachman as Lenny/Myrtle, Leachman called up his talents to give his two persona distinctive identities. As Lenny he lacked confidence, was hesitant, introverted, stuttered on occasion and obviously still in love with Fran. As alter ego Myrtle, he stood tall and could speak from his heart what he couldn’t say as Lenny. In drag outfit speaking in a high pitched Mrs Doubtfire voice, his scene with Dee Dee, discussing her pregnancy, showed an empathy he couldn’t express as Lenny. With Letitia, their gimmicks were rather funny.
Sanderson has that special brand of energy that pulsates across the footlights. From his first appearance, his dynamism, timing and stage presence announced he fully understands what comedy acting is about. His scenes when he first meets glamorous Letitia and later “dressed like a deck chair” in striped night shirt, were superbly humorous. What a card Barfoot is. Oozing personality, in her flowing coloured kaftans, false eyelashes, and chunky jewellery, other thespians could learn from her use of hands, body language and how successfully to interpret a playwright’s comic intentions. Her Letitia deserves a Cata best actress nomination.
Director McCormick directed her team to draw a fine line between Williams’s wit, bawdy and sometimes risque humour, without ever allowing them to resort to vulgarity. A play to lift jaded spirits.
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