Most of us have probably wished we could turn back the clock and do things differently at some point, but what if going back changed your whole life, and the lives of those around you, forever?
When leather-clad call girl, Poopay, is falsely summoned to a hotel room to witness a murderous confession from dying businessman, Reece, her life suddenly becomes in grave danger. Threatened by Reece’s unsavoury business associate, Julian, there’s only one way out of the situation – through the hotel room’s communicating door and back twenty years in time.
And so the fun begins. We are transported between the same hotel suite in 2030, 2010 and 1990, meeting Reece’s second wife, the formidable Ruella, and his first wife, the seemingly meek, Jessica. Not as confusing as it sounds, Ayckbourn’s clever use of the time travel device delivers an ultimately optimistic tale about fate versus the ability to choose your own destiny.
There was rarely a weak moment as the small cast of six delivered some memorable performances. Ranging from delightfully sinister to truly menacing, Ben Jones as Julian terrified the audience at regular intervals, but it was the female characters who truly stole the show.
The scenes in which Ruella (Liza Goddard) and Poopay (Laura Doddington) develop their unlikely friendship were a pleasure to watch; both for their comic potential and the development of a genuine bond between two women from wholly different backgrounds.
If the first half of the play owes much to the thriller genre, the second half is definitely more of a comedy. Heavy with elements of farce, and delving even deeper into the realms of improbability, smiles were lingering long after the curtain fell!
Communicating Doors runs until Saturday 18 June at the Gala Theatre, Durham.