How To Disappear Completely And Never Be Found is the rather exuberantly plotted tale of Charlie Hunter, a severely down on his luck marketer who yearns for a rather drastic change of pace.
There was not a single actor this evening who did not earn their place upon the small stage of the Green Room as everyone involved took to their roles like ducks to water, most with multi roles so seamless I had to continuously check my programme to see if a new actor had entered the fray (they usually had not).
Kerry Butcher and Leighton Fort showed me this evening just how easy multi roles can look when done well.
Kerry went from the strong, short, sharp and sarcastic doctor to Angelina the gypsy woman with such ease I truly had to do a triple take to ensure I knew she was the same actress.
Leighton has me holding my sides as the DVLA funny man with quite possibly the most hilarious voice work I have heard in a while and alongside the gasps he elicited as he transitioned seamlessly into the loan shark boss from hell near the end of the play.
I cannot reiterate enough just how often I asked myself if there were twice as many actors in the cast as placed in the programme.
James Rosser (Charlie) showed his full scale of emotional range during the show and his monologue on ‘day two’ when everything seemed to be going wrong on his daily commute was a true masterclass in storytelling, and included my favourite visual of the night when he delivered the unforgettable line “Throwing an old lady into a wall of crisps” which had me laughing so hard my ribs hurt as he suddenly became enraged, leaving the audience doing a total 360.
Rachel Tobin was superb as Sophie and had a warm, heartening and welcoming presence on the stage as she navigated through the hectic nature of the show with Charlie.
My star of the show this evening goes to the wickedly talented James Consterdine, whose deeply resonant voice filtered rather impressively through his characters, giving each of them a truly unique and individual feel. I found myself instantly excited to see each of his new characters as they popped up and could not fault a single moment from any of them.
Finally, I must congratulate director Steven Lilly on a truly enthralling and entertaining play, with quick changes that put a crick in my neck and sequences that had me wondering how on Earth his actors had exited one door and entered through another in a split second so flawlessly.
This play had me hooked from the very first line and their tech department should be incredibly proud of themselves as they tied the show together with clips and voice overs which were perfectly added and which enhanced the performances in a seamless and wonderful fashion.
Well done, everyone!
