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.
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.
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.
⭐⭐⭐
