The opening night of Absent Friends at the Shambles Theatre saw a first-class comedy performed with convincing characterisation from all six performers.
The play begins after the death of Colin's fiancee. He is invited to afternoon tea at the home of his old friends Diana and Paul in a bidto cheer him up.
Diana and Paul have also invited four mutual friends and what follows from there is a plot that is both hilarious and yet at the same time probes into the lives and tensions that exist between the friends. Colin, played by Richard Rugg with aplomb, is indeed in a far better space than his friends who are supposedly there to cheer him up.
Robyn-Ann Rumney, Liz Carrington, Tim Eardly and Andrew Welch all play their roles in a convincing manner.
They have a lot of dialogue to remember and their opening night performance required no prompting.
But the stand out performer was the role of Evelyn - a moody, brooding young mother - played by Simone Walker. She has few lines and they are mostly one liners but are delivered with perfect timing and facial expression.
It is not easy to be on stage most of the time with little to say but saying everything with facial expression and body language. Walker pulls it off to perfection.
Mention must be made of the set which is perfect in dimension, colour and furnishing and provides an ideal backdrop for the cast to perform this comedy.
