Communicating Doors
May 2024
Written by Alan Ayckbourn
Directed by Joanna Godman & Alex Green
Cast List
Phoebe (Poopay)
Mia Heathcote
Reece Welles
Andy Anderson
Ruella Welles
Amanda Miller
Harold Palmer
Darren Hammock
Jessica Welles
Alice Tilley
Julian Goodman
Andrew Deamer
Set Designer
Phill Willing
Stage Manager
Carol Bolden
Set Construction
Hugh Bailey, Geoff Bolden, Alan Godman, Lawrence Davis, Phill Willing,
Gerald Flanagan, Neil Balderston, Kevin Lane, Steve Berry, Joanna Godman, Mark Glaisher,
Alex Green, Alice Drain, and Richard Drain
Prompt
Jill Balderston
Props
Neil Balderston
Lighting
Geoff Bolden
Sound
Matt Micallef
Music & Effect Sourcing
Geoff Bolden & Alex Green
Costumes
Sourced via the Oasthouse Wardrobe
NODA Review
Friday 10th May 2024
I confess I didn't have a clue what "Communicating Doors" meant until I saw this show. I do now. Doors that connect adjoining hotel rooms internally. In RaTS set design of a London hotel suite, this was uppermost in their production, designed by Phil Willing this was superb! Well done, and along with Neil Balderston on props, it set the scene for this play. Communicating Doors begins and ends in the year 2044 (I think). As the play opens, a sickly Reece Welles (Andy Anderson), a wealthy businessman is in his suite with Julian Goodman (Andrew Deamer), his business partner. Reece has called for the services of a self-styled, leather clad dominatrix by the name of Poopay (Mia Heathcote). After Julian exits, we learn that the only servicing Reece desires of Poopay is that she signs a witness document. In relation of his impending death, he wants to confess all the acts that he and Julian have committed. These are from simple lies and dishonesty to the murders of both of his wives. The plot thickens as we get into the middle of the play. Thank goodness there was a screen that depicted the year we were in if that hadn't been there I and the audience would have been lost. Great thinking.
From the casting to its direction (Joanna Goodman and Alex Green) and design, this production was a triumph for direction and cast choice, including Mia Heathcote, Andy Anderson, Amanda Miller, Darren Hammock, Alice Tilley, and Andrew Deamer all the cast milking every farcical nuance, squeezing all out of every ounce of comedy, grasping each absurdity and not letting go. This was truly a cast that were talented to carry off this difficult piece of Alan Ayckbourn's writing.
Thank you RaTS, once again, for giving us great plays and entertaining evenings in Medway.
Gordon Harris,
NODA SE District 5
I confess I didn't have a clue what "Communicating Doors" meant until I saw this show. I do now. Doors that connect adjoining hotel rooms internally. In RaTS set design of a London hotel suite, this was uppermost in their production, designed by Phil Willing this was superb! Well done, and along with Neil Balderston on props, it set the scene for this play. Communicating Doors begins and ends in the year 2044 (I think). As the play opens, a sickly Reece Welles (Andy Anderson), a wealthy businessman is in his suite with Julian Goodman (Andrew Deamer), his business partner. Reece has called for the services of a self-styled, leather clad dominatrix by the name of Poopay (Mia Heathcote). After Julian exits, we learn that the only servicing Reece desires of Poopay is that she signs a witness document. In relation of his impending death, he wants to confess all the acts that he and Julian have committed. These are from simple lies and dishonesty to the murders of both of his wives. The plot thickens as we get into the middle of the play. Thank goodness there was a screen that depicted the year we were in if that hadn't been there I and the audience would have been lost. Great thinking.
From the casting to its direction (Joanna Goodman and Alex Green) and design, this production was a triumph for direction and cast choice, including Mia Heathcote, Andy Anderson, Amanda Miller, Darren Hammock, Alice Tilley, and Andrew Deamer all the cast milking every farcical nuance, squeezing all out of every ounce of comedy, grasping each absurdity and not letting go. This was truly a cast that were talented to carry off this difficult piece of Alan Ayckbourn's writing.
Thank you RaTS, once again, for giving us great plays and entertaining evenings in Medway.
Gordon Harris,
NODA SE District 5
The communicating doors of the title are in the 6th floor Penthouse suite of the Regal Hotel in London. They, to the guest's surprise, allow some of them to travel through time, returning to the same hotel room. But not everybody gets transported to the same era!
Julian has procured a prostitute for Reece. The girl, Phoebe, is a dominatrix who goes by the name Poopay Daysir. As it turns out, Reece doesn't want her for what she usually gets paid for, but instead wants her to witness a confession and then deliver it to trusted hands. Reece has been very successful in life, along with his business partner Julian, but it has come at a high cost. Two of Reece's wives were killed by Julian along the way. Julian gets wise to the fact that there is a confession revealing his crimes and that Poopay knows about them and, naturally, he plans to get rid of her as well. She escapes, sort of, through the infamous communicating doors. Can she convince Reece's wives that they are in danger? Or will Julian find her first?