A Pleasantly Unpleasant Evening of Murder in Arundel

Arundel Players kick off 2018 with a double bill of two short plays, The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter and Five Kinds of Silence by Shelagh Stephenson, both directed by Jamie Potts.
Jamie PottsJamie Potts
Jamie Potts

A Pleasantly Unpleasant Evening of Murder runs from January 22 to 27.

Making his Arundel Players’ directing debut, Jamie said: “Whilst this will not be an evening of light entertainment, the audiences will be assured of powerful performances and an intense evening of story-telling, intrigue and perhaps a little hope, which spiral around themes of murder, loss and rebirth. It will be an evening that will provide a contrast both in genre and style from quality writers and talented actors.”

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“The Dumb Waiter is a one-act play written by Pinter in 1957 and is considered by some to be the best of his early plays. Heavily influenced by Waiting for Godot, it combines the classic characteristics of early Pinter – a paucity of information and an atmosphere of menace, working-class small-talk in a claustrophobic setting with an oblique, but palpable political edge.

“The plot revolves around two would-be assassins, Ben and Gus, played by Tim Ashworth and Steve Wallace, who are waiting in a basement room for their next assignment. To pass the time they debate odd topics and read newspapers when mysterious happenings occur. Some unknown person keeps sending down random food orders through the dumb waiter at the back of the room while their unseen boss Wilson keeps changing their instructions.

“Shelagh Stephenson’s Five Kinds of Silence is the story of a family in which control has become the driving force and was first performed at the Lyric Hammersmith in 2000.

“This is a play with hard- hitting content addressing the darker aspect of family relationships. Abused as a child, Billy (Nick Roughton) now controls his wife Mary (Gill Lambourn) and two daughters Susan and Janet, played by Sue Beresford and Deborah Addicott to the extent that they can’t leave the room without asking permission. The adult daughters attempt to free themselves and kill Billy.

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“The play illustrates a distorted world of madness, control and despair through the eyes of dead Billy and those of his family struggling to understand reality outside their stifling tomb.”

Director Jamie trained as an actor and worked professionally during his teens. He moved to France, the spiritual home of mime to train in the discipline. He now works as a teacher in Chichester and has appeared in leading roles in Privates on Parade, A Man for all Seasons and Humble Boy.

Tickets for A Pleasantly Unpleasant Evening of Murder at The Priory Playhouse, Arundel, Tickets £12 aon 07523 417926. Performances start 7.30pm.

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