Theft

‘Theft’ is one of two dozen, classic British plays from the pen of Lincolnshire born playwright, Eric Chappell.  After the success of only one play - ‘The Banana Box’ - Chappell went on to win his TV BAFTA for the series ‘Rising Damp’.  In 1973, at the age of 40, he took up fulltime script writing. A couple of hundred more TV scripts were to follow.

Over the years, ‘Theft’ has starred Roy Hudd and George Cole as Spriggs. This light-hearted drama, with comedy moments, is being performed at Stirling Theatre, in Morris Place, Innaloo, nightly at the end of the week until Saturday 28^th July. There are two Sunday matinees, on the 15^th and 22^nd July at 2.00 pm. Curtain up at 8.00 pm.

          It is near midnight in a comfortable sitting room, in an expensive house in the WA countryside.

         After a night out, the very wealthy and domineering, John Miles (Jason Forbes) and his attractive, but older, wife Barbara (Mairi Bell) return to their house to find many valuables stolen and the floor strewn with their belongings. The friends who they have been out with, Jenny (Amanda Watson) and Trevor (Lee Walker), try to call the police but find that the mobiles have been stolen and the ‘phone landline is cut.

        The four set off around the house and garden, searching for the burglar. As soon as they leave the sitting room, a young larrikin burglar, Spriggs (James Hynson - excellent) appears. Just as he is about to make his getaway, he is caught, but instead of being scared, Spriggs has the gift of the gab and starts to take over the situation.

Like many of the audience, I went to see this play expecting Chappell’s usual madcap comedy, but after a slow 15 minutes it became obvious that the play was a light-hearted thriller with a zany central character – Spriggs. After accepting the new genre, I found the script most enjoyable with lots of twists and red herrings.

Jane Sherwood’s direction was excellent. Mari was new to the stage and performed very well, and Lee joined the team at the last minute and was very much at home. The team work was good, and forgiving the odd ‘early season’ minor fluffs, the interaction and pace was excellent. James Hynson has a natural comedy delivery. With his dry humour and cheeky face, you were never too sure what was going to happen next.

The techies, Pauline Lawrence, Ian Wilson and Paul Olsen performed well. The preshow mobile phone announcement, however, was a bit distorted and at a low level (speaker problem?).

The set was well designed and solidly built by Wayne Gale, Lawrence Hayward and the cast. The trimming and props gave a well-lived in appearance.

A good storyline well performed. A pleasant night out.