The Stage

Room Service Included

Published Monday 23 January 2012 at 10:55 by Sheila Tracy

Where to begin - the playwright, the director, the actors? All are responsible for what is a somewhat below par production. Moya O’Shea has a considerable reputation for writing plays for radio, and very successful she has been in that medium, but writing for the stage is a whole different ball game.

A scene from Room Service Included at the Mill at Sonning

In the 1950s the most popular way of providing evidence of infidelity, needed in a divorce court, was to be seen to rent a room at a Brighton hotel and share it with a complete stranger, often an out-of-work actor. Director Andy De La Tour has his two principal characters, Nick Waring as Fulwood Langton and Jo Herbert as Caroline, kissing passionately for the benefit of the hotel porter on his way up with their luggage. But how long can a kiss last? This one seems interminable as we wait for Frank Scantori, as the porter, to enter the room.

There is a long night ahead, and in case we forget, the speaking clock reminds us at regular intervals: “at the third stroke the time will be… etc”. Waring gives a very believable performance as the actor experienced in this particular role but Herbert, as the anticipatory divorcee, changes character almost as often as we hear the speaking clock. In such a situation there should be many opportunities for humour, but the laughs are few and far between. It comes as quite a surprise to discover the long night has lasted less than two hours.