Review: THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY at Ipswich Little Theatre

Ipswich Little Theatre's The Games People Play: A Season of One Act Plays is a night of laughter, wit and lots of murder.

Set at Ipswich's gorgeous Incinerator Theatre, Ipswich's local actors, directors and creatives take to the stage in this festival of one act plays; Brain J Burton's Murder Play and Debra Chalmers' Golf, Marriage and Other Murderous Matters. The former was directed by Ann Collyer and the latter by Aaron Evans. I don't want to spoil the plot of either of these shows, but there were murders.

Let's start with the first play. Martie Blanchett did a terrific job bringing the wit and menace of her character Jane to the forefront of the show. One can also argue that she carried it. She had an electricity about her that the other characters lacked. It wasn't over-acting.... it was being in character. The other two supporting actors Jack Barrett (Peter) and Kahli Williams (Robyn) each held their own in their role even if they were overshadowed by Blanchett. However, the playwright didn't seem to justify each characters' existence as both characters weren't essential to the progression of the plot and could have been merged together to achieve the same results. Director Collyer struggled to find the balance between the humour and the drama of the text; a balance that director Aaron Evans perfectly landed in his work.

Moving onto the second play.... Debra Chalmers text is so delicious and delightful. Each character is so flavoursome and brings their own gravity to the plot. The actors portray these flawed characters so colourfully and with such detail. For me, the play felt like being at a comedy club where there just happened to be a murder. The elements of comedy, farce and slap stick humour were so brilliant and executed with such perfection by the cast. Hats off to director Aaron Evans for finding the humour and light in a 'dark' work and bringing us an hour of laughter.

If you haven't yet been to Ipswich Little Theatre, add it onto your 2022 bucket list.