Lunchbox Theatrical Productions in association with 
Mark Goucher and Mark Rubinstein present
 

P.G. Wodehouse’s
JEEVES AND WOOSTER in
Perfect Nonsense
 

Original Director – Sean Foley
Adapted by The Goodale Brothers
Joseph Chance as Jeeves
Matthew Carter as Wooster
Robert Goodale as Seppings the butler 
2016-10-06
Capitol Theatre, Singapore

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A Review by Hawk Liu

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With one actor playing Wooster and the other 2 actors playing multiple charactors in something of a screw-ball comedy/farce, one would anticipate lots of ridiculous costume changes, as well as actors' quick exiting and entering from different directions. Yes, they did all that and on top of which they moved all the clever, manoeverable and manipulatable sets in quick time and precision. The actors were lively throughout. They all must lose a few kilos each performance. They even made a joke out of that at the end of the play where Wooster asked Jeeves if they had to do all that again the next evening's performance. 

The charactors were well played out with different body expressions to distinguish between the different charactors a single actor might play. They were a number of moments where it was hinted to the audience that 2 charactors played by the same actor had to be on stage at the same time. How did they do it? Come and see!

In coming to a show like this, one must be prepared to be encountered by an essentially, early 20th century English theatre piece with its references to charactors that some English in England might have had grown up knowing. If you do not fit into this category, and had no prior exposure to even the television series of Jeeves and Wooster, you would be lost in the significance of the charactors being played out. It didn't help that other than Wooster, the other charactors had rough and throaty voices that made clarity of diction difficult for me. In short, I lost the plot very early on in the Act One. The saving grace in diction was Matthew Carter, who played Wooster. His impeccable diction was greatly helped by his wonderfully clear vocal tone.

The Second Act was more interesting for me. There was a scene where 2 charactors were skilfully played out by a single actor, Joseph Chance (the actor who also played Jeeves). There were many other gems in the play. Again, I must warn that for a play that is so verbose, diction might be a problem and one can lose the whole plot for that. If the humour of the early 20th century English is what you might like, this could be your thing to see.

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Also published at http://the-mad-scene.blogspot.sg/2016/10/jeeves-and-wooster-in-review-running.html