Monday 27 June to Friday 1 July at 8.00 p.m. and Saturday 2 July at 2.30 p.m.
“The sleeping dog was the truth, do you see, and that man, the husband, insisted upon disturbing it.”
Ever had one of those sliding door moments? Or ever wish you could turn back the clock and start again?
Robert Caplan and his wife are entertaining her brother and sister-in-law, Olwen Peel and Charles Stanton – all of whom are associated with Robert in a publishing business. Robert insists on uncovering the truth about his brother Martin’s apparent suicide, but many unpalatable and uncomfortable revelations ensue. Will relationships ever be the same again?
Dangerous Corner was first performed at the Lyric Theatre, London, in 1932 and has been a stalwart of British theatre ever since.
Cast
| Robert Caplan | Geoff Dillon |
| Freda Caplan | Mercedes Yearley |
| Gordon Whitehouse | Stuart Scott |
| Betty Whitehouse | Christabel Wickert |
| Charles Stanton | Andy Masters |
| Olwen Peel | Rebecca East |
| Miss Mockridge | Jane Sheraton |
Backstage
| Director | Patricia Melluish |
| Stage Manager | Sue Hicks |
| Assistant Stage Managers | Pauline Wathen, Ian Wathen |
| Props | Lynne Craig |
| Tabs crew | Jon Louder, Ruth Aylward, Vincent Quinn |
| Wardrobe | Margaret Uzzell, Diana Quinn, Val Polydorou |
| Hair & Make Up | Christine Lever |
| Lighting & Sound Design | Ian James, Jon Lewis |
| Technical Operators | James Quinn, Lorraine Spenceley |
| Set Designers | Andrew Heather, Adrian Pope |
| Set Construction | Ian Saunders & T62 members |
| Set Decor | Adrian Pope & T62 members |
| Prompt | Davina Pike and Janet Clark |
Reviews
Bromley Buzz by Darren Weale
Source: http://www.bromleybuzz.uk
Theatre 62: Memorable local theatre
“On the eve of the July-long Bromley Arts Festival, Theatre 62 in West Wickham put on a highly polished performance of J.B. Priestley’s play ‘Dangerous Corner’, in their 60th anniversary year. It was a first visit to the theatre for myself and my Bromley Buzz podcast co-presenter Zeenat Noorani, and once the curtains parted to start the show it was quickly striking how small the gap can be between amateur and professional theatre.
The box office was dinky, the seats lightweight, the air conditioning absent, but there the differences with bigger theatres largely ended. The essence of live entertainment is what happens on stage, and this was a highly entertaining, slick and apparently well-rehearsed show.
The play, performed on a single, well-dressed 1930’s-style set occupied by even better-dressed actors, centres on a group of close friends and business associates. They come together for an evening which unravels from the moment that they can’t tune into dance music on a radiogram. Instead, they talk. Soon, they come to wish they hadn’t. The atmosphere becomes more and more tense as they tease truths, half-truths and revelations from each other.
The evening proceeds as half Spanish Inquisition, half game of truth and consequences, and one joy of the night is that each actor, even Betty Whitehouse (Christabel Wickert), who edges out with an incipient headache at one point, has their time in the spotlight of growing scandal. An exception is Miss Mockridge (Jane Sheraton), whose cameo appearances as a scandal-seeking Downton Abbey Dowager Duchess type figure are briefer, but still amusing. Much of the night concerns an absent friend, Martin, beautifully described as “as cruel as a cat”, and, absent or not, he still manages to drive the plot.
In what amounts to a detective-less investigation, Robert Caplan (Geoff Dillon), Freda Caplan (Mercedes Yeardley), Gordon Whitehouse (Stuart Scott), Betty Whitehouse (Christabel Wickert), Olwen Peel (Rebecca East), Charles Stanton (Andy Masters) pick and probe and poke at each other, gaining insights into hidden loves and motivations dark and light alike. What is revealed is a searching examination of what we are as human beings in our relations with those closest to us.
The quality of set, costume (especially Betty’s elegant dress), and atmosphere in this intimate theatre were excellent, and the acting was to match, with Charles perhaps having some of the very best lines, and his actor Andy Masters made the most of the opportunity to play what was something of a Jeckyll and Hyde character. Though he was not alone in this in a cast seemingly without weaknesses. The direction (by Patricia Melluish) kept the pace tight and, for that matter, the male characters as they wolfed down glass after glass of strong spirits appeared just as tight, developing a convincing ‘wobble’ in the second act, as Zeenat pointed out.
That was the only wobble on view on view in this night of proper entertainment.”
Bromley Theatre Guild by Brian McEwan
source: http://bromleytheatreguild.org/reviews/dangerous-corner/
“Since the unfortunate demise of the Hayes Players in 2020, Theatre 62, based at the top of Corkscrew Hill has become our ‘neighbouring’ society. Their name of course is the clue to their 60th Anniversary this year and ‘Dangerous Corner’ was in no way a reflection of the stage they’d reached in their impressive journey to date.
Theatre 62 is a unique society insofar as it not only has its very own premises complete with a bar but also constructs raked seating for every production, thus allowing its audiences excellent viewing facilities as they are able to look down onto the stage below much in the same way as ‘circle’ seats in a West End theatre. Such seating flexibility also enables ‘in the round’ productions where the audience actually ‘surrounds’ the actors.
But to the production itself, expertly directed by Patricia Melluish. Set in 1932, ‘Dangerous Corner’ is a J B Priestley classic demanding a period set, period costume and period stiff upper lip/middle-class diction. All three were perfection. In fact, so absorbing were the action and individual performances that one could easily imagine that this could well have passed for a 30’s professional performance in London’s West End. As the action progressed so the melodrama, characteristic of the period, grew more outrageous to the point that one bemused audience member let out an exclamation of shock much to the delight of the audience and almost the cast themselves. Particular mention must be made of movement around the set when it involved 7 cast members on stage for the most part. In this respect, I found the use of bench seating in the bay window most effective complementing as it did, the meaningful stage direction throughout the play.
Effortlessly and with some considerable panache, this talented cast presented an excellent mystery melodrama where truth and lies almost appeared one and the same.”
Theatre 62, West Wickham 