‘Lucky for Some’

Press, 26 February 1987, Page 4

‘Lucky for Some’

“Lucky For Some,” by John Dole, directed by Doug Clarke for the Elmwood Players, at the Elmwood Playhouse, from February 25 to 28 and March 4 to 7. Running times: 8 p.m. to 10 p.m, Reviewed by John Farnsworth.

- The closest acquaintance most New Zealanders have had with British holiday camps is through the television set, and then mostly by way of situation comedies. So it comes as little surprise to find a stage play drawing heavily on the likes of “Hi-de-Hi” for its appeal. The sitcom formula itself, of course, draws on an earlier generation of drawingroom farce and, in this case, works some familiar routines almost to the point of exhaustion — without, it has to be said, adding much new in the process. “Lucky For Some” is a very competent but not a particularly sparkling example of the genre, de-, ■Kum on the sam«'| aind sometimes th«. same jokes as its

forebears. There are mis : taken identities, crossdressing and missing garments among the situations, with woebegone puns and wordplays of often stoneage simplicity for comedy. Faced with material like this, the best solution

is often to play it as hard and fast as circumstances allow and, by Act Two, that is certainly the alternative the cast plump for. The result is to avoid the abyss into: which they earlier seemed to be headed and to take advantage of some rapid-paced plotting in the script. The story revolves round the arrival of Christopher (Dimitri Gibara) and Mary Clifford (Jillian Lawson) at a holiday camp for their first wedding anniversary. Predictably, things go wrong from the start when they are joined by Mary’s parents (Kristin Sibley and John Boyce), a suspected mistress (Sonja r Williams), her shady boyfe friend (Lyall Matchett), ' and some oddball camp staff (Pat Tobin, Steven

Murray, and Chris Stachurski). After a dire first act which lacked pace and focus, the cast suddenly sprang alive in the second, and: then produced a more uneven concluding J act rounded out with a bubbling finale. Much of the credit was due to Doug Clarke’s inventive, well paced direction which paid off in the pace and energy which finally appeared. That aside, the play benefited from a. hardworking company, and especially from Gibara’s bright and well managed central role. His vivacity contrasted nicely with John Boyce’s gloomy father-in-law and as a feature in a number of the play’s high spots. In the end, the performance got a response which was really better than the material deserved. With a tighter, sharper first act, they should manage to raise consistent laughs from end to end of the Play,And not just from intervß onwards. -