The Wicked Lady graces the Theatre Royal stage this week. If am honest I was a little bit apprehensive, well scared truth be told, after reading a bit about the play beforehand.
The theatre bar was packed for some time before curtains up, with an excited array of audience goers, all wondering what we were in for that evening.
Suddenly it all went dark and Detective Sergeant Fenton (played by Saul Bache) appeared on stage to give us an intimidating introduction which included the classic quote by Roosevelt “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” and a foreboding warning to not to reveal The Wicked Ladies secrets…
This build up was great, as we still had no idea what we were in for.
The set was simple but effective and relied on the audience to use their imagination which only added to the fear and suspense. There were only two cast members, (as well as Bache, Nicki Davy played the main character Alice Beaumont) who really worked the stage and did their best with the dialogue. The lighting and music were utilised in such a way they were making the majority of the audience members jump left right and centre.
There was so much potential…
However after a very long build up, the story, an eclectic mish mash of tangents and genres that didn’t intertwine smoothly, just let the whole thing down.
As the lights went up, there was an uncertain applause and a resounding chatter of confusion. I overheard heard comments such as: “Started off well but just got daft at the end”, “Sorry, you can choose next time!” and “Not what I was expecting. Think we were misold it!! But on the positive side I have not laughed that much for a long time!”
If you like genuinely sinister theatre productions such as Ghost Stories or The Woman in Black then you best give this one a miss. However if you like big screen cheesy parodies such as Scary Movie, then you may just have a laugh at this show!
For more information and tickets please visit www.trch.co.uk
Review by Josie Opal
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