Belmont Theatre
  
  • Home Page
  • Box Office
  • Current and Future Productions
    • October 2025 - A Doll's House
  • Blog News
  • Past Productions
    • 2016 - Sitting Pretty by Amy Rosenthal
    • 2016 - Night Must Fall
    • 2017 - Ladies Who Lunch
    • 2017 - Suddenly At Home
    • 2017- SEPARATE TABLES- 2017
    • Feb 2018 -The Actress
    • Oct 2018 - Journey's End
    • Feb 2019 - Bothered and Bewildered
    • May 2019 - Be my Baby
    • October 2019 - Love In Idleness
    • February 2020 - The Unexpected Guest
    • Online performances
    • October 2021 Just the Ticket
    • February 2022 Prescription for Murder
    • May 2022 The Ride Down Mount Morgan
    • October 2022 Pygmalion
    • February 2023 - Head Over Heels
    • May 2023 - Jekyll and Hyde
    • October 2023 - Verdict
    • Februry 2024 - Blithe Spirit
    • June 2024 - Silver Lining
    • October 2024 -The 39 Steps
    • February 2025 - My Old Lady
    • May 2025 - Curtain Up!
  • About Us
    • Joining information
    • Committee
    • Awards & Nominations
    • Audience Mailing List Sign-up
    • Contact us
    • Constitution
    • Privacy Policy >
      • Privacy Policy - Members and Patrons
    • Links

A 4-star review of Belmont's last Pump House show from the Watford Observer

11/6/2014

 
Picture
"We all love a cliché if it is expressed witily. The amateur Belmont Theatre company exploited the differing skills of two playwrights in this programme of two one-act plays, which made use of this device in different ways.

The first was The Lamp, by Melville Lovat. This new play presents a husband and wife in middle age who visit a furniture shop to look at a lamp that they have seen advertised. Owing to their indecision, they are locked in overnight. They are challenged to spend the time reviewing their past and future lives: there is plenty of scope for them, and us, to explore today’s social attitudes.

As even the two characters’ names, Doreen and Arnold, demonstrate, they are stereotypes; success depends on the authenticity of their performances. The danger is that cliché may descend into farce, and Lottie Rebello, who directs, does not entirely avoid it. Of the two actors, Mary Woolf is the more successful.

The Real Inspector Hound also has a cast of stereotypes. Even the set, an isolated manor house, is that of a typical detective fiction. The play was written quite early in Tom Stoppard’s career, but already he was highly skilled in stage technique.

As the audience can see but the cast do not, the victim of a murder is imperfectly concealed on stage, and ostensibly the play is about the long awaited arrival of the detective who will investigate. But at the start, Stoppard warns us that all is not as it seems. Two press critics are seated in a box at the side of the stage, exchanging inanities about their profession: they are to review the play that we are about to see. We soon realise that neither the identities of the characters nor their roles in the drama can be relied on. So there is plenty of scope for irony in the plot and the characterisation.

The most prominent character is Moon, one of the critics, convincingly played by Bernard Vick – well known to Belmont audiences. He turns out to mutate into various other roles. Similarly, Alan Nathan, playing Major Magnus Muldoon becomes another character who has been much spoken of. The house is owned by Cynthia Muldoon, another key character: Dawn Harvey in this role exploits a variety of opportunities. As Inspector Hound himself, Peter Tarl only appears briefly: a paradox (if it is a paradox) for which Stoppard is responsible. Even as Mrs Drudge, Helen Sherwood has to present herself originally as the charwoman and later as a sort of female butler. She has great fun with this.

And so we go on. The plot is complicated, as expected in detective dramas. The play is neither spine-chilling nor rib-tickling, as we might also have expected. Perhaps it can be summarised by saying that Stoppard builds a structure of clichés and turns it on its head, so there are plenty of ideas to keep the audience on the edge of their seats."
Review by Graham Mordue

Link to article

Double bill now on. The Real Inspector Hound/The Lamp- just three more shows.

30/5/2014

 
Latest pics from the Pump House set. Grab those few remaining seats for a most entertaining performance of these comic dramas. 7.45pm 30/31st May
 plus 2.45pm 31st May. Call 07917 324179

See not one but two plays for as little as £6.00

21/5/2014

 
Picture
SPECIAL OFFER: Pay just £6.00 to see the Wednesday premiere of The Real Inspector Hound/The Lamp double-bill  (normal price £12/£10.50). Prebook only on 07917 324179 and quote promo code : RIH123.
Tickets remain at £12/10.50 for all other performances but are going fast.

Our May double-bill. Rehearsals well underway and looking good!

13/4/2014

 
One of our May double-bill contemporary dramas 'The Lamp' in rehearsal. Rehearsal pictures for its companion production, 'The Real Inspector Hound', will appear on this website shortly. Tickets 07917 324179.
Picture
Picture

Auditions 7.45pm tonight in Carpenders Park for May production

13/3/2014

 
Picture
Open Auditions take place tonight , 13th March 2014 at Carpenders Park Community Centre. See /casting-info---real-inspector-hound--the-lamp.html
for details.

    Categories

    All
    A Woman Of No Importance
    California Suite
    Caught In The Net
    General
    Jack The Ripper
    Membership
    Musical Of Musicals
    Real Insp Hound/The Lamo
    Rehearsal
    Remembrance
    Social Events
    Ten Times Table
    The Cemetery Club
    The Hollow
    The Small Hours
    Watford Live/Pump House

    Archives

    November 2020
    April 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    February 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    July 2011

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.