Plaza Suite

Melville Theatre’s Plaza Suite features three different stories, all set in the same room of New York’s Plaza Hotel, on three different days in 1968. 

Overseen by creative director Susan Lynch, the three acts all have different directors, but feature the same practical but beautiful set design (again by Susan Lynch), and effective sound and lighting design by Clare Talbot. Gorgeous, era appropriate costumes were designed by Michelle Sharp. Despite three directors, this is a production with overall unity and a sense of being a single show.

In Act One, titled Visitor from Mamanrock, directed by Clare Talbot, Karen Nash arrives to celebrate her 24th (or possibly 23rd) wedding anniversary with husband Sam - but this may not be the happy occasion she is anticipating. A beautifully fresh and vibrant performance from Natalie Burbage, folded nicely by the reserve of Joel Samples’ Sam. Audrey Poor makes an appearance with impact, as Sam’s secretary Jean McCormack, with good support from Laura Mercer as the bellhop and waiter.

Visitor From Hollywood is Act Two, directed by Michelle Sharp. Hollywood Producer Jesse Kiplinger invites his high school girlfriend, now married with children, to visit him in his Plaza Hotel suite. Brian O’Donovan has subtle swagger as Jesse, with Sarah Diggins sweet and impressionable as Muriel Tate. The inevitable seduction has been intimacy co-ordinated with effect by Michelle Ezzy. They are again supported by Laura Mercer as the waiter.

The final act, Visitor from Forest Hills, is the most frantic, and we can see why Neil Simon has placed this act last. As guests wait downstairs, on the day of their daughter’s wedding Norma and Roy Hubley anxiously urge her to come out of a locked bathroom. Fabulous teamwork and excellent characterisations from Susan Lynch and Geoffrey Leader as the fraught parents, with clever cameos from Audrey Poor as daughter Mimsey and Brian O’Donovan as Borden Eisler.

This classic comedy clearly won over its audience. Running for another week, patrons are advised to book quickly as some shows have sold out.

Kimberley Shaw