Scaramouche Theatre Company's production of Natural Causes was on stage at New Milton’s Forest Arts
MIXING death and deception with a heavy dose of black comedy is not an easy task but Scaramouche Theatre Company's production of Natural Causes certainly achieved this.
Written by Eric Chappell, renowned for the comedy Rising Damp, this was a feast of twists, turns, misunderstandings and lots of laughs, with the action taking place over one day.
The play was dominated by Alan Ponting channelling his inner Leonard Rossiter as the bumbling Vincent Vincent, a member of Exodus, a euthanasia group that assists people in suicide. Despite his lack of education (“did I tell you I left school at the age of 14?”), he has a potion which induces a swift death with no trace – death by natural causes.
He is entirely confused as to who is the intended victim and, with his superb timing, manages inadvertently to nearly kill most of the cast who weren’t ever planning suicide. It was a tour de force.
As Walter, the husband who has contacted Vincent to 'assist' his wealthy wife, Danny Lyons moves from initially confident to highly stressed as things do not go according to plan. Andrea Cutler was great fun as his depressed wife, Celia, at first quite bedraggled but becoming unusually happy at the prospect of shuffling off this mortal coil, although Walter isn’t too keen on her including him in her plans.
Walter has invited Vincent to get rid of wealthy Celia alone as he wants to take up residence with his young secretary Angie, a confident Lady Macbeth-type Sophie Hills in her first acting role with the company. She is determined to get the outcome she wants and pushes Walter to speed up matters.
To add to the confusion, Withers, a Samaritan played by Lara Jones, turns up to try to dissuade the would-be suicide from proceeding but she too can't work out who is the intended victim.
Anne Ponting skilfully directed the play and the backroom staff must have been busy as there seemed to be an unending supply of clean glasses and lashes of sherry on the drinks trolley. An amusing play with a final unexpected twist right at the end.
Alison Smith
