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east anglian story telling festival

Night Must Fall

The Original Theatre Company and Sailsbury Playhouse return to the New Wolsey Theatre, with their Production of Emlyn Williams’ play “Night Must Fall”.

The story tells of a local woman who has gone missing, which has stirred fierce rumours among the village of a murder case. We focus on one group of people’s link to the story in particular – the sour old Mrs Bramson (Gwen Taylor), who lives in a remote woodland home, with her strikingly beautiful niece Olivia (Niamh McGrady) and has regular visitors in the form of her nurse, maids, friends, police and the smooth-talking Dan (Will Featherstone) who ingratiates his way into her life. As the story unfolds – the fingers begin to point.

In all honesty, I found it to be a fairly slow paced and predictable story, that seemed to be similar to the likes of Agatha Christie or Midsummer Murders; therefore it was rather on a tamer side than I anticipated – that said, it was still enough to grip me, and give me a few chills. I also enjoyed the balance of the light-hearted moments that were slipped in, which gave the audience a few laughs to relieve the tension.

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With a star-studded cast that includes Gwen Taylor (Coronation Street & Heartbeat), Daragh O’Malley (Sharpe), Niamh McGrady (Holby City & The Fall) and Will Featherstone (Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare’s Globe & Fresh Meat) it was inevitable that they would be great talents. For me, an unsung hero was Mandi Symonds as Mrs Terence, who brought lots of fun and laughs that lightened the mood – both within the show and audience. Will Featherstone (Dan) gave a chilling portrayal of his Jekyll and Hyde type character and I loved Niamh McGrady’s character, Olivia, as she’s an introvert with a highly over-active mind (something I personally somewhat relate to) which she pulled off brilliantly.

Equally, with it only being set in one location – this can be a hard task to pull off, with trying to transition between scenes and keeping an audience gripped. Yet it worked well; simple, but full of detail.

Overall, it was exciting for me to see something different – this is something I think the New Wolsey Theatre does so well. It made for a great evening out, making you question, could it be him? Or would it be too obvious? – and it was held together by a wonderful cast, that kept the audience in the palm of their hands.

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Tickets are now very limited availability, but you can still join the waiting list, by visiting: www.wolseytheatre.co.uk or call 01473 295900 for more information.

However, it will also be touring 5 more venues, including the Palace Theatre in Southend, from the 1st-5th of November.

For more information on The Original Theatre Company, the show and other dates, visit: www.originaltheatre.com.

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