Edward Alderton Theatre

A Tomb With a View
by Norman Robbins

Directed by Viv Stapleton

6-13 February 2010 (7 performances)

In a sinister old library presided over by a portrait of a grim faced, mad-eyed old man, a dusty lawyer reads a will involving a vast fortune to an equally sinister family. One has werewolf tendencies, another wanders around in a toga of Julius Caesar, and a third is a gentle old lady who plants more than seeds in her flowerbeds...

Cast
Hamilton Penworthy	Horry Stapleton
Lucien Tomb	Clive Madel
Dora Tomb	Shirley Andrews
Emily Tomb	Helen Bezer
Monica Tomb	Linda Gay
Marcus Tomb	Richard Banks
Anne Franklin	Sara Nichols
Agatha Hammond	Eleanor McEnery
Ermyntrude Ash	Eileen Warner
Peregrine Potter	Mark Campbell

Crew
Stage Manager	Jenny Devonshire
Assistant Stage Manager	Yvonne Golding
Set Design	Viv Stapleton
Set Construction	John Vinnels, Ron Andrews
Set Decoration	Mick Taylor, Viv Stapleton, Horry Stapleton
Lighting Design & Rigging	Jerry McKeon, Christine McKeon
Lighting Operation	Mick Taylor
Portrait Painting	Annette Tranter
Properties	Dorothy Holmans
Sound Design	Rebecca Mason
Sound Operation	Ken Swann
Backstage	Dorothy Holmans, Helen Banks

Previews

Stage fright delight

Agatha Christie meets the Addams Family in a comedy by Norman Robbins opening at the Edward Alderton Theatre this Saturday. Directed by Viv Stapleton, A Tomb With a View, a twisted and murderous play with eccentric and ghastly characters, runs at the Bexleyheath theatre until February 13. Tickets for the 8pm performances (no performance on Sunday) are £7 and available from the box office on 020 8301 5584 or online at www.edwardalderton.org.

Kentish Times | 4 February 2010

A Tomb With a View

This comedy at the Edward Alderton Theatre follows what happens when members of a rather sinister family inherit a vast fortune. Norman Robbins' A Tomb With a View is full of twists and turns, and by the third act there are more corpses than live characters among the cast.

The play is staged by the Edward Alderton amateur dramatics group, which is based at the theatre in Brampton Road. It runs from this Saturday to February 13, with performances at 8pm, except on Sunday. The company is also on the lookout for new members, particularly those interested in working backstage. Anyone with DIY experience is especially welcome.

Edward Alderton Theatre, Brampton Road, Bexleyheath. £7. Visit www.edwardalderton.org or call 020 8301 5584.

Mercury | 3 February 2010

Reviews

Nothing grave about Tomb comedy play

The Edward Alderton Theatre season continues with Norman Robbins’ comedy-thriller, A Tomb With a View, centring on the weird Tomb family greedily awaiting the reading of their father’s will, writes Steve Spencer. The tetchy Tombs are desperate to hear who has benefitted from his millions but the arrival of unknown authoress Ermyntrude Ash and her male secretary throws them into a state of panic when they realise she is the main beneficiary. What follows are a series of twists and turns with corpses on and off-stage until the unexpected final dénouement. This play is full of quirky characters, not all of whom are who they claim to be, wacky events and even wackier outcomes.

There are more convolutions than a rattle snake but unfortunately this production has less of a bite. To be fair, it’s not the fault of director, Viv Stapleton, whose committed and solid cast deliver. Put simply, Robbins’ play sometimes needed a hatchet job.

The actors play with gusto and are on the whole convincing. Clive Madel (Lucien Tomb) struts around the stage petulantly, reminding everyone he is now head of the household; Shirley Andrews (sister Dora) seems as though butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth; and Richard Banks (Marcus) is just plain bonkers, convinced he’s Julius Caesar, hamming it up in a toga. Sara Nichols (Anne Franklin) plays the duplicitous nurse well and Eleanor McEnery (Agatha Hammond) is the excellent cool, dour housekeeper. Eileen Warner (Ash) and Mark Campbell (Peregrine Potter) play the strangers parachuted into the creepy house and revelations of their true identities add to the tension. Horry Stapleton (Penworthy), the family’s conniving lawyer, tries to keep the voracious hoard in check.

However, hats off to Helen Bezer (Emily Tomb) and Linda Gay (Monica Tomb), mutually despising sisters, who had me chuckling with their consistent interpretations! Mannish Emily lumbers around on stage, guzzling food, spitting lines and mimicking others with venom; vampish Monica, oozing charm and seduction, turns out to be the murderous conspirator at the end of the day and holds on to the millions with the help of a reluctantly entrapped Potter.

Steve Spencer

Kentish Times | 18 February 2010

A Play Less Ordinary

A Tomb with a View was the play and the Edward Alderton Theatre in Bexleyheath was the venue. Technical difficulties and the lack of light to follow the script gifted to me meant I got a different slant on the proceedings than the other 79 patrons, although some of them were definitely certified members of the blue rinse brigade, so they may suffer from the same affliction.

A rather quaint set greeted us when the curtains parted, a well designed wood-panelled library was to be the one and only venue of Norman Robbins' sinister murder mystery. It was all very wooden...The set, not the performances! The lack of noise penetrating my delicate eardrums allowed me to focus on the themes and movements, as opposed to trying to follow the storyline. So to unravel the crime, I was looking for physical signs of guilt.

A rather dignified looking gentleman, brilliantly named Hamilton Penworthy, who appeared to be more like an undertaker than a solicitor, kicked off the proceedings. For the next ten minutes we saw an influx of characters. Marcus Tomb, who looked as though he was at the wrong performance dressed in Egyptian robes, was ushered in by Anne Franklin, his nursemaid. Lucien, Dora, Monica and Emily Tomb were to follow. A vast array of different characters with seemingly unsavoury traits and habits. The vultures were gathering to pick over the carcass, in this instance a will reading. Ermintrude Ash, Peregrine Potter and Agatha Hammond completed the lineup.

The will reading appeared not to favour any of the cast, judging by the uproar. That is when the grizzly murders began. A variety of means were used to knock off cast members. Marcus Tomb met a gruesome end by the way of a well aimed bullet. Emily Tomb, wearing a rather distinguishable fat suit, fell victim to a poisoned apple (one of the many things she consumed throughout the play) and there was a stabbing somewhere in the middle. Now forgive me for getting a little bit lost here. The cast were disappearing quicker than the sweets stowed away in my jacket. Mine is not a fat suit, sadly.

Eventually all that was left was the foppish Peregrine, the vixen-like Monica Tomb and the ever present nursemaid free from her shackles due to the untimely death of her charge.

The plot seemed to be wrapped up when Monica Tomb was wrongly fingered as the assassin, but her death had been faked. The villain was none other than the sweet and innocent looking Anne Franklin, who was slaughtered by the hands of Monica. Justice had prevailed and the audience were left to gather their thoughts and question their own judgements. I made the fatal mistake of not picking the least likely killer.

The Baron of London

Blog | 14 February 2010

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