The Haunted Through Lounge and Recessed Dining Nook at Farndale Castle

Authors

Alvin Community College

Files

Description

The problem with reviewing any contribution to the panoply of theatrical endeavours by The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society is that they are not very good – in fact mediocre would be far beyond their modest, and that is being generous, capabilities.

It is not just what, by convention, one has to refer to as the acting, which in this case is little more than people wandering on stage, often at the wrong time, and saying things which may or may not be the right lines, but it is also the technicals, which you suspect are operated by descendants of Shakespeare’s rude mechanicals.

In the TFAHETGDS, as we call them for short, sound effects are on CD, but simple programming, such as pressing track 12 or whatever, is beyond the wit of the technical department, thus we have endless tracks of aircraft, sheep, dogs, poultry and so on before the correct effect booms out. Lighting is sort of on and off, but not necessarily in the right order, and as for the set . . .

Props are there although not always in the right place or on or indeed off stage at the right time; scenery is . . . well seen, even if not as described, while what passes as acting is either the most overcooked ham, or wooden enough to be an insult to even the most gnarled tree. Lines are missed, or wrong, muddled or said at the wrong time, while entrances and exits and which doorway to use, are all open to negotiation.

In short their plays are daft, glorious, eccentric fun - theatre at its painful worst with perfomances only worthy of half a star for their valuable role in providing shelter and warmth on a stormy night, but, worth many more for the sheer entertainment value they provide.

Publication Date

Spring 1987

Document Type

Playbill

City

Alvin

Keywords

David McGillivray, Walter Zerlin Jr., Full Length Play, Comedy, Contemporary

Disciplines

Theatre and Performance Studies

Comments

The ladies of the Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society make another spectacle of themselves and their harassed producer. Vigorous sound effects enhance their spine chilling mystery production, a tale of murder and mayhem that is guaranteed to bring down the house or at least a substantial part of the set. Premiere Production: The Haunted Through Lounge and Recessed Dining Nook at Farndale Castle was first produced at the Social Hall, Tintagel, on November 7th, 1983.

Recommended Citation

Alvin Community College, "The Haunted Through Lounge and Recessed Dining Nook at Farndale Castle" (1987). Season 1986-1987. 3.
https://archives.alvincollege.edu/productions_1986-1987/3