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Review of Dial M For Mayhem! at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Middle Ground Theatre has been creating unique and intrepid adventures for the stage since the late eighties, and with Dial M For Mayhem!, they take those experiences and bring to the stage a brand new play within a play now arriving for a week run at Royal & Derngate.

Written by Margaret May Hobbs and directed by Michael Lunney, Dial M For Mayhem! has much to admire. Still, sadly, for every good joke, amusing set piece and chaotic moment, there are too many periods of flatness, stilted sequences and, especially during the first act, too many slow scenes which either tread the same old ground or bring nothing new to the proceedings and then fail to flow into the next leaving it often disjointed.

The cast does their very best, though, and the characters they bring to the stage are entertaining and perfect for this farcical play, but they lack depth despite the script trying desperately at times to give them one. The attempt to create character also comes at the expense of the farce and the potentially best part of the show, as the writer tries desperately to form relationships and emotion with the characters, especially in the final, rather limp scene where revelations indeed are revelations as very little seems to have been evident beforehand.

From the cast, the best are the elder stalwarts, including Estrid Barton as Jean, the earnest busybody of the community, ready with all the knowledge of comings-goings and rumbling storage heaters. Alasdair Baker is also excellent as the diminishing star of stage and screen Rupert. The rest are great at what they have, but they are saddled with sadly underwritten characters, just as if they are from a sketch in a sketch show rather than a rounded play character, like the AA Man, for instance, or a woeful Scottish resident who brings only awkwardness to the stage rather than entertainment in their brief scene.

Michael Lunney's set creates the style of a wafer-thin touring company set and flips perfectly to allow the reversal for the second act of working behind the scenes, including avoiding blindspots for the best part for the audience where we see scenes live which we have previously experienced in first act rehearsal.

For all its faults, though, I did enjoy Dial M For Mayhem!, although I do not entirely know why. Perhaps because it has a rather lovely quaintness, which taps through the critique within, it is a bit apt that Middle Ground has a little middle-ground standard play here, but no question, it's worth the effort for a big theatre fan. Still, for an occasional goer, you might find many better alternatives out there.

Full of faults but still a surprisingly entertaining farce.

Performance reviewed: Monday, 3rd February 2025, at the Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton.

Dial M For Mayhem! is on stage at Royal & Derngate until Saturday, 8th February 2025.

For further details about the Royal & Derngate and to book tickets, see their website at http://www.royalandderngate.co.uk

Photos: Marcus Fernando for Middle Ground Theatre Company


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