Her Big ChanceDirector - Graham Butler Cast Gill Butler as Lesley |
Doubles &
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DoublesDirector - Mark Vinson Cast Michael louca as Laurence Javona Gustave as Lynn Brian Butler as Miles Dominique as Melanie |
"First performed in July 1988 at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guilford, "Doubles" subsequently moved to the Gielgud Theatre, London in September 1998. "Doubles" is a One Act play where we see two couples divided by class, false politeness and over thin walls, in an adjoining pair of identical hotel rooms, who bicker and eavesdrop on each other. The play was originally staged with Felicity Kendal and Josie Lawrence playing the 2 women's roles as part of the 8 play compendium "Alarms and Excursions". Throughout this humorous meditation on the emotion-deadening routine that many married couples can call into, Frayn ponders the idea of all the evaporated encounters in the look-alike hotels, very much like a tree falling in the forest. Will anyone hear these guests' cries for fulfillment?!
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Comments taken from Croydon Advertiser Review June 14th 2002 by Donald Madgwick
“Bennett’s title, Her Big Chance, is an ironical one. It is the narrative of an out of work actress who is offered a part in a film of no artistic merit, which only she takes seriously….” “Gill Butler’s persona as Lesley was that of a shallow shopgirl with an accent that strove for gentility but only achieved a mindless twitter. So far so good…….…”
"Director, Mark Vinson, put energy into Michael Frayn's Doubles, a play in which two couples, in adjoining Hotel rooms with thin walls, quarrel........ The synchronicity of action and speech between the two rooms, highly artificial in itself, but useful for farce, was adroitly managed, likewise the misunderstandings brought about by less than stout walls".
“Bennett’s title, Her Big Chance, is an ironical one. It is the narrative of an out of work actress who is offered a part in a film of no artistic merit, which only she takes seriously….” “Gill Butler’s persona as Lesley was that of a shallow shopgirl with an accent that strove for gentility but only achieved a mindless twitter. So far so good…….…”
"Director, Mark Vinson, put energy into Michael Frayn's Doubles, a play in which two couples, in adjoining Hotel rooms with thin walls, quarrel........ The synchronicity of action and speech between the two rooms, highly artificial in itself, but useful for farce, was adroitly managed, likewise the misunderstandings brought about by less than stout walls".