FOR this year’s autumn production, Richmond Amateur Dramatic Society chose a double bill which showcased the versatility of the eight performers and required double the input from costume and set designers. Happily, all acquitted themselves well.

The staging for Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound was that of the drawing room of Muldoon Manor, where a traditional fireplace, an oriental carpet and a chaise longue with a body prostrate behind it set the scene for a whodunnit.

The action flashed between the stage and the theatre’s Collman Box in which two theatre critics intermittently discussed the play in the traditionally esoteric and pretentious terms used by such folk (present company excepted!).

After the interval, the stage was transformed into an apartment for Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer in which the furniture had been “borrowed” for the night from an absent neighbour.

The opening portion was performed in total blackout, and when the stage lights came up, it was to indicate that the opposite was occurring and there had been a power cut in the apartment. As the characters stumbled around the stage, talking blindly to one another, muddling up their drinks and the identities of all present, the ensuing comic chaos saw the audience laughing along throughout.

The star of this double bill was Suzy Brown as Mrs Drudge and Miss Furnival. In fully embracing her two allocated characters, she created a stark contrast between the dowdy housekeeper deliberately overplaying her lines to create stage cues for an incompetent crew, with the snooty middle class, teetotal spinster who takes refuge from the dark.

Directed by Jim Brown, these two well-chosen 1960s' farces and RADS’ hallmark enthusiasm provided hearty entertainment for those both on stage and in the audience.

Christina McIntyre