White Liars and Black Comedy double bill at the Stables

Starting this Friday 5 April and running through to Saturday 13 April, Paul Shaffer’s combination of comedic and melancholic performances will headline at the Stables Theatre in Hastings. Preview by Jordan Dixon, images courtesy of Peter Mould.

White Liars

First performed in 1967 and originally titled White Lies, White Liars is a one-act play which offers a far more sobering and melancholic experience than its comedic accompaniment, Black Comedy.

The play centres around Sophie Lemberg (played by Josie Brody), an eccentric and disillusioned fortune teller living in a decaying seaside resort, who also happens to imagine herself as a baroness of the Holy Roman Empire!

Alongside her are Tom, the lead singer in a rock band, and his business manager Frank, played by Daniel Giles and Daniel Grint respectively. As the play develops we find that their lives are much stranger than the fiction Sophie imagines within her crystal ball.

Black Comedy

Black Comedy is literally titled but not in the way you would first assume. First
performed  by the National Theatre in the mid-60s, audiences find themselves basked in complete darkness while the lights are on in the London apartment in which the play is set. But when the apartment experiences a power cut, the characters are left scrambling in the dark; meanwhile the audience can view exactly what is going on as the stage is bathed in light.

The one-act play follows Brindsley, played by Dave Fricker, the ‘harassed hero’ who, eager to impress his visiting military father in-law, borrows antique furniture from a house-proud neighbour. The chaos begins to ensue as a variety of characters enter the stage; from Brindsley’s neigbour, to his ex and vengeful girlfriend.

Charles Spencer, of the Daily Telegraph, wrote, “There are blissful moments as a tee-total spinster is mistakenly presented with an enormous whisky instead of her favoured bitter lemon and discovers she likes it, eagerly and repeatedly returning under cover of darkness to the drinks trolley for more….

“…. to  deft scenes of physical comedy as Brindsley heaves the borrowed furniture past, over and around his unseeing guests as he attempts to return it”.

The White Liars and Black Comedy double bill will be performing at The Stables Theatre, The Bourne, Hastings TN34 3BD, from Friday 5 to Saturday 13 April except for Monday 8th when there is no performance. The play starts at 7.3o pm but at 2.30pm on Sunday 7th. 

To book your tickets visit the Stables box office.

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