Cowardy, Cowardy Custard is two one-act plays by Noel Coward, directed by Peter Goers for the Adelaide Cabaret Fringe Festival. The two plays presented at the Arch in the Holden Street Theatres are Red Peppers and Hands Across the Sea (from the suite of nine plays TONIGHT at 8.30).
Peter Goers has had an exhaustive history with the Holden Street Theatres, with his production of “California Suite” opening the theatre back in 2003. Co-founded and developed by actor, director, and producer Martha Lott, she also stars in both plays.
“Red Peppers” is set in a vaudeville theatre, a Palace of Varieties, in an English provincial town in 1936. The two actors on stage are a married couple, The Peppers, played by Martha Lott and Geoff Revel. After a series of gags and half-baked dance routines, the couple head back to the dressing room. Clearly tired and irritable from pounding the floorboards for some thirty years, they are keen to find someone or something to blame for their misery. The drunken band conductor, Bert Bentley (David O’Brien) is an obvious target.
Obviously, there is more to the story than meets the eye. Mr Edwards (Brian Wellington), the owner of the establishment also cops a fair serve. The diva singer Mabel Grace, played satisfyingly by Rebecca Kemp is both an object of desire for George Pepper and a royal pain.
Perhaps the moral of the story in the end is that the show must go on, no matter what. It’s amusing to see that these behind-the-scenes dramas portrayed from a century ago are probably as prescient today.
After a short intermission, the second piece, “Hands Across the Sea” begins with a phone ringing in a clearly well-to-do mansion. The maid (Milly Bollen) finally answers, and we learn that the caller is Mrs. Rawlingson with whom Maureen “Piggie” Gilpin ( a superb Martha Lott) and her friend Maud Dalborough once stayed when temporarily stranded in Samolo in the South Pacific during a world cruise.
Piggie explains to her husband, Lord Peter Gilpin, Commander, Royal Navy (John Doherty) that she has to return the hospitality shown to them. (The story goes that the two characters were based on Lord Mountbatten and his wife Edwina). She calls various friends to come over to visit and entertain the guests, before retiring to bathe and dress for company.
What transpires is a hilarious farce as the various visitors arrive in the drawing room. In a case of mistaken identity, rubber plantation owners the Wadhursts (perfectly played by Geoff Revel and Rebecca Kemp) stumble into the drawing room and are overwhelmed by the grandeur. Piggie’s friend Clare Wedderburn (a delightful Helen Geoffreys) arrives and promptly takes over the party. Lt-Commander Alistair Corbett (David Arcidiaco) chats bemusedly to Lord Peter; clearly both would rather be sailing.
In the midst of all the chaos a young Mr Burnham (Christopher Cordeaux) arrives with a roll of plans and in his naïve and shy way is summarily ignored. All in all, it’s a barbed observation of upper-class English manners and polite society. It had the the audience laughing during the whole act.
In summary, the two one-act plays are as relevant today as they were last century. The actors obviously enjoyed their roles – being particularly well cast. The Holden Street crew behind the scenes are also passionate about what they do and it’s a delightfully quaint place to watch a play. A pleasant evening of entertainment.
Score 8/10
Cowardy, Cowardy Custard at the Holden Street Theatre in Hindmarsh until 1st June.
Link: https://www.holdenstreettheatres.com/cowardy-cowardy-custard
Caricaturist: Clive Francis
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