The Odd Couple – Vintage Champagne!

NODA Review

Our production of The Odd Couple by Neil Simon was reviewed by  NODA – National Operatic and Dramatic Association. NODA has a membership of 2500 amateur theatre groups and 3000 individual enthusiasts throughout the UK. Their review by Jon Fox is reproduced below and is on NODA’s website. A link to other NODA show reports is here.

Jon Fox wrote:

“First impressions are so important, in theatre as in life; after my warm and welcoming greeting upon arrival by Director Victoria Franklin and Brian Hulme, I was fairly sure that the evening would be enjoyable. Well, I was wrong! It was far better than merely enjoyable. A pint of beer is enjoyable, this female odd couple was vintage champagne.

It is clear that the Cobham Players are a highly organised company dedicated to their craft, who expect and give a polished production, at least if this show is typical of them.

The Odd Couple themselves both gave sparkling performances;   Melanie Cook as untidy Olive and Mary Taylor as neurotic and obsessively tidy Florence can both be really proud of themselves.   Florence is the best role in the play requiring real acting skills and the contrast with sloppy Olive was beautifully pitched by both ladies.

Ably backing up these two paragons were the four girlfriends playing their hilarious Trivial Pursuit.    Believe me, nothing was trivial about any of them. Millie Hart (Mickey), Jacquie Slater (Renee), Liz Ness (Vera) and Beth Barrett (Sylvie)  all gave their various characters vivacity and were truly believable.

Just when I thought the evening could not get any better, it did!! Cue the arrival of the two Spanish brothers.   Oh joy! Graham Pountney as Manolo and Richard Williams as Jesus were hilarity itself. How I laughed!    I found out after the show that Graham Pountney deputised very late in the day.

However special the ingredients, it takes a special chef to prepare a gourmet meal.   Take a bow then Director Victoria Franklin.   With apologies to Charles Dickens “please Miss, I want some more”.

I must also praise the set designed by  Ray Moss – as an untidy mansion block flat it was just right.

So all in all a superb evening’s entertainment.    Well done Cobham Players.

Jon Fox”

The Odd Couple (female version), is Neil Simon’s gender-swapping re-write of his comic masterpiece which pits chaos versus control. How do mismatched flat-mates, Olive and Florence, struggle to cope with each other’s alien way of life? When the obsessively tidy and newly separated Florence moves in with her divorcee friend, the gregarious and pathologically untidy Olive, the scene is set for a collision of personalities. Fellow banter-loving Trivial Pursuits players and a pair of would-be Spanish Romeos add to the laughs engendered by such hilarious incompatibility. Although originally the play was set in New York, Director Victoria Franklin moved it to London, with UK accents.

Performances

We performed The Odd Couple at Cobham Village Hall on October 24th, 25th and 26th 2013 at 8.00 pm. It was very well received.