I am being spoiled for comedy this week, what with Consumed on Thursday and Black Tie Ball tonight. Both were hilarious and both relied on stereotypes, doesn’t most comedy, but they couldn’t have been more different. I wrote that Consumed took stereotypes and turned them on their head, whereas Black Tie reinforces the initial opinion – I think.
The play opened with one of the actors, Dylan Allcock, breaking through the fourth wall and addressing the audience direct. The cast doubled, or trebled, on characters but on this occasion he was Duncan, who told us he was a 32 year-old musicology student, who had been called by the front of house manager at a five star hotel and asked if he could put in a shift as they were understaffed. Having a couple of student loans to pay off, he jumped at the chance.
The action began with two of the other three characters taking the stage and, as they had not worked together before, introducing themselves and divulging their backgrounds. The third and only permanent staff member, Ronnie, played by William Ilkley, was introduced to us by hearing his phone call from the same manager, conveying the same message. It transpired that he had just got back home from one shift and had only had time for a shower, so was not in the mood to go back and do another. He eventually caved in and the scene was set.
William Ilkley as Ronnie, Levi Payne, Lewis, Dylan Allcock, Duncan and who else but Joy, Jade Farnill
Ronnie, it turned out, was a former coal miner who worked at Kellingley, the last pit to close in England. He had educated himself through the Workers’ Educational Association, and was fond of quoting Shakespeare and listening to middle of the road music. His supervisory skills were somewhat less than subtle and he made the lives of Duncan, Joy, and Lewis, played by Levi Payne, a misery. Actually, despite her name, Joy, Jade Farnill, was already a misery, something which elicited quite a few of the jokes. She was a singer in clubs whose speciality was Adele covers. Lewis was waiting to become an entrepreneur but was working in a discount supermarket in the interim. Although he didn’t seem like the sharpest knife in the block, he did have some ideas but never got round to implementing them.
Not only was the hotel short staffed, but it was full, with overnight guests and hosting a literary group, a prom night, a wedding and the Black Tie Ball, This latter function was attended by local big wigs, including the owner of the hotel and other well to do businessmen. The owner was supposed to be at a conference in Harrogate, but decided to come to this ball as the band was one of his favourites, playing easy listening songs all night.
The hotelier, centre and a couple of Hoorays.
The problem here was that the band were drunk and then slipped outside for a ‘smoke’ so were in no condition to fulfil their commitment, meaning the disco was extended until 2.00am which didn’t please the staff as they were due to finish at 1.00. It was the hapless Duncan who had to sort everything out. The band members were played by the other three in the cast.
Multi-tasking was also undertaken by the four of them in the room where the Hooray Henrys were holding their charity auction and listening to the guest speaker, played by Jade Farnill, who stunned those present by berating the hotel owner for his lack of feminist credentials, having hardly any women in management positions, something to which he readily admitted and promised to address.
There were several more set pieces which were hilarious. I don’t often laugh out loud at the theatre but I did let rip the odd guffaw here. There was an auction scene before the guest speaker rose, which was brilliantly acted, as were they all, and another with Duncan and Lewis delivering room service. In the latter, Lewis was wondering what was on the trolley under the cloche, as he was starving; it turned out to be hummus, and, as he had no idea what it was like, he scooped some up with his finger and gave it a try. He then tried to get rid of the scoop mark with the same finger but ended up eating the lot, along with two accompanying bread rolls. Now I have stayed at some pretty decent hotels in my time and I began my writing ‘career’ as a food critic, but I have never experienced, nor wish to, bread rolls with hummus!
Duncan and Lewis contemplating checking as to what is under the cloche.
Another scream was one of Lewis’s entrepreneurial schemes, a heated umbrella for when you were standing at a bus stop on a cold day. Everyone, especially Ronnie, ripped the idea to shreds so the poor chap was left embarrassed in front of his new colleagues. On my way home, I mulled this concept over and, although no engineer, I thought that it was not as daft as it sounded. I am sure that with microelectronics a small heater could be incorporated into a specially designed handle and heating elements inserted into the main shaft and down the branches of the skeleton which supports the cover. There may even be a waterproof heat insulating material from which that could be made. Now that there are USB ports on every bus seat back, you could recharge it before you reached the other end of your journey. As an added bonus, the heater in the handle would also keep your hands warm. I bet James Dyson could do it.
About half way through the second act things took a distinct turn and there followed a party political broadcast on behalf of the socialists, which drained the humour from the evening somewhat. Because the band had done a runner, the four of them decided to sing a middle of the road song to placate the owner and, hopefully, get him to close at the originally appointed time. Ronnie insisted that he would only sing if it were a Matt Munro song, and the one he opted for was We’re Gonna Change The World, which, rather than being a revolutionary call to arms, was a spoof protest song originally used in a Kellogg’s Cornflakes advert.
This made me wonder if the whole political diatribe had been a spoof, with the leader of the revolution, Ronnie, a bully and misogynist (making a non-woke, but funny comment about Joy not going to her school prom as she was pregnant) who wanted to see the reintroduction of coal (hardly beneficial to the environment of his fellow citizens) and averse to new ideas (heated umbrella), being supported by someone who had stolen from a guest, (hummus) abetted by Duncan. They also seemed to spend most of the play standing, or sitting, around moaning as to how busy they were.
How many hotel workers does it take to mop up some sick? Another chat about how busy they were, and a telling off from Ronnie.
I thought that I would rather be led by the hotel owner who was far more electable, having agreed to change his ways regarding female managers, made a very substantial donation to charity and supported the guest speaker, who had started her wedding planner business from scratch and was now turning over £4million a year, thus, like him, employing quite a lot of people, the original quartet included.
Just my bit of fun – or was it?
Black Tie Ball, written by John Godber and co-directed by him and Neil Sissons, has ended its run at Harrogate Theatre but is still on tour until mid-November, so, if you fancy a night of laughs, and perhaps head scratching, go to https://www.thejohngodbercompany.co.uk/black-tie-ball for more information, venues and tickets.
To see what is coming to Harrogate Theatre, including the final play in the htDrama trilogy, Bedroom Farce, go to https://www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk/
Photographs supplied by Harrogate Theatre
Tyke It To The Limit 