The Real Inspector Hound Review

What better way to start the year than with a little murder mystery?

Minotaur Theatre’s production of Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound began the company’s 2014 run of productions, and set the bar incredibly high. Breaking the barrier between cast and audience, hilarity and comic timing were executed perfectly. The audience applauded throughout, with laughter ringing through the room.

Tucked inside UEA’s drama rehearsal room, the two rows of audience were sat in a semi circle around a minimalistic set. The play had a cast of eight, nine if you count the corpse at the back of the stage. Before the ‘who dun-nit’ began, Josh Husselbee scrambled across audience members as Birdboot, eventually settling to take his place next to Molly Violet McGeachin as Moon. The chattering Birdboot was the antithesis of McGeachin’s highly strung character. With passionate monologues and frantic hand gestures the strength of the pairs relationship and performance remained at a high level throughout the performance.

The subject of their review was set inside Cynthia Muldoon’s living room. We sat and watched the comical and deliberately dramatic cast act out a series of lovers tiffs and “shocking” murders. Amber Muldoon was endearing as eager house keeper Mrs Drudge, and Gemma Barnett’s wails of “I Love Albert” had the audience in increasing uncontrollable laughter as the play progressed.

One of the key elements of the production came from how the cast moved around the set and audience. Scrambling around viewers, falling across the stage and climbing through windows, physicality played a vital role in the success of the performance. The best entrance of the night came from George Ronayne as Magnus, who flew onto the stage in his wheelchair with a threatening yell. In contrast, the lighting throughout piece was extremely minimalistic. Crew members used it only to indicate whether our attention should be on the play or the critics reviewing it. Similarly simplistic, the sound effects were predominately created through recordings. At one point the radio ‘failed’ and Ronayne took on the role of police broadcaster. Intentional or not, the audience applauded with laughter regardless.

Role swapping was a common factor throughout the play with actors smoothly swapping and flipping between roles towards the plays finale with ease. The shock twist ending was revealed by Ronayne and McGeachin conveyed her frustration and confusion, to an equally bewildered audience, brilliantly. Even within such a fantastic cast Husselbee performance stood out. His consistency and comic timing were perfect and he danced the barriers between actor, audience and critic superbly.

The Real Inspector Hound was a spectacular performance by Minotaur’s cast and crew members. With the only criticism being a difficulty in hearing a number of arguments due to actors talking over one another and clunky shoes, it gave a hilarious start to the years performances. A promising indication of what the company has to offer for the coming year.