REVIEW: SUDS’ Double O’Bill: The Real Inspector Hound and The Bald Soprano - A murder mystery and a middle-class satire walk into a Cellar

Brilliantly adapted by directors Kieran Casey and Charlie Papps, the production offers a night of gut-wrenching laughter and meta-theatrical analysis in their double (O’) bill of two modern absurdist classics

Design by Finn Daugherty

Two absurdist productions dredged from the 20th century “theatre of the absurd”, re-envisioned within the cavern of the Cellar Theatre, are hitting the stage this week and next. Brilliantly adapted by directors Kieran Casey and Charlie Papps, the production offers a night of gut-wrenching laughter and meta-theatrical analysis in their double (O’) bill of two modern absurdist classics: Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound and Eugène Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano. 

The first act of this bipartite production begins with the bickering repartee of two theatre critics ‘Moon’ and ‘Bird-boot’ in the premier The Real Inspector Hound. Played by the captivating Maddie Lewis and Danny Yazdani, the duo squabble about the very nature of theatre critics themselves and the personal drama wrought by Bird-boot’s own lecherous personage in the balcony seats of a theatre.

This squabbling in turn acts as the backdrop to our ‘play-within-a-play’, a murder mystery titled the “Murder at Muldoon Manor”, this satire on the whodunit genre being masterfully brought to life by the other half of the cast. Harkening back to the foundational works of the genre by Agatha Christie and Dashiell Hammet, here our posse of six archetypal house guests are trapped in a lavish manor, paradoxically isolated from the rest of the world by “desolate marshes" and "treacherous swamps'' — hallmarks of the murder mystery genre.

And finally — forewarning for some light spoilers for this decades old play — in an act of complete surrealism these A and B plots converge; the nigh cartoonish dispositions of the critics coming to a boiling point as the quarrelling reviewers supplant the mysterious “Simon Gascoyne'' and titular “Inspector Hound'' in the very play itself. This surrealism and deconstruction of the role of the theatre reviewer is masterfully performed under the close lighting direction of Thomas Hennessy, and captivating performances of the cast, both working in tandem to create the eerie gravitas inherent to these absurd concepts and enrapturing melodrama, in my humble opinion, a must see on every front. 

The second prong of this double act fronts as a caricature of British modesty and a deeply steeped satirisation of the English middle-class of the 1940s. This quintessential piece of absurdist theatre cleverly dehumanises modern life, its parody of the trivialities and vacuity of modernity being masterfully portrayed by the witty performances of the cast and seamless work of the crew.

Tedium is stretched to comedic magnitudes in this one-act play as the foremost ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ engage us in banal conversation that slowly spirals into complete absurdity as their mundanity is distended into complete nonsense. As the play draws on, this couple is joined by the Fire Chief, the Maid and ‘Mr and Mrs Martin’, their purposefully underwhelming introduction and departure underscoring the ambience of the entire performance. The monotone, babbling dialogue, and quiet demeanour of the characters only aid in the unhinged and liminal aura of the performance, the actors perfectly capturing the ominous air of the original 1950s production.

This trite performance and indulgence of the mundane produces a feverish effect on the audience, with the occasional surreal piece of slapstick comedy acting as stark contrast to the eerie silence and sterilised feel of the characters and pacing — an anti-play by very definition.

Ultimately, sitting here feeling like the 3rd critic in this double bill debacle, it’s clear that this show is another choice SUDS production. Whilst I'm a sucker for the absurdist genre as a whole, I highly recommend giving an afternoon to meander down Science Road and indulge in a feverish bout of student theatre to remember.

And as a final note, whilst both cast and crew put on an absolutely stellar performance, I would like to give special credit to both Maddie Lewis and Hugh Finlayson, two actors who stole the stage in my humble opinion.

Double O’Bill: The Real Inspector Hound and the Bald Soprano will be performed at the Cellar Theatre until May 27. Tickets available here.