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Saturday May 14, 2022
Sonning - Busman's Honeymoon
Lord Peter Wimsey - upper crust sleuth - has married his lovely fiancee, Harriet Vane. But his honeymoon bliss is shattered when the dead body of the house's previous owner turns up in the cellar.
It seems long ago now that I signed up for this outing to The Mill - and after much rescheduling - here we are again. I did hear a radio production of this story in 2014 with Ian Carmichael, from which I remember the plot was slight enough and a cactus played a leading role. Nonetheless, (ignoring the cactus who was a bit wooden), the acting in this production was probably the best I have seen at Sonning* - at best it's challenging in such a small and intimate space. James Sheldon as Lord Peter was really excellent, convincingly depicting Wimsey's determined gaiety as he tries to overcome his somewhat fragile mental state, as well as his sheer joy at being with Harriet (Kate Tydman). I should really mention all the cast as they were a brilliant set of experienced supporting actors - and I was delighted to find Noel White stepping up as the police Inspector one again, (though the audience refrained from cheering on this occasion and probably quite appropriately as it was a less tongue-in-cheek production!).
I also need to say - the meals provided at the Mill are really excellent, and it was so good to enjoy the experience with the usual group of friends and colleagues, especially now I have retired.
* I was interested to read a rather critical review which to me hardly described the same play that I saw - all I can say is it must have been an off day, and since the reviewer admits, he may have eaten too much beforehand I can only conclude it affected his judgement, though why it would have done so negatively I cannot imagine...
Posted by Christina at 3:43 PM. Category: Art and Culture
