Pitch Production’s spectacular production of Peter Shaffer’s double bill of White Liars and Black Comedy was truly a tale of two halves. Two completely separate plays put on with some overlap of cast in one evening, at Durham Student Theatre’s own Sir Thomas Allen Assembly Rooms.

After the lights dimmed initially, a bumbling Fortune Teller, Sophie, wandered onto the stage and took seat at her table. Emilia Lewis’ excellent portrayal of this character lets us catch a glimpse into her slipping sanity as she deals with the harsh reality of being devoid of work. An interesting aspect of this first play is the use of an off-stage character called Vassi, which lets us see into the delirium that is Sophie’s consciousness. This was excellently voiced by the director, Ben Cawood, although at times I was slightly removed from the world that was created, due to latency in the recordings being played leading to slightly awkward pauses.

Credit must be given at this stage to the Set Designer, Breanna Voss, for an incredibly immersive Fortune Teller’s hut, complete with all the knick-knacks that you would expect to find in such a place.

After a short while, we are introduced to our two other cast members for this first play, Frank and Tom, portrayed by Jamie Strand and Oreofe Subair respectively. Tom is a working-class artist who has finally made it big, after leaning on his manager, Frank. Some excellent use of the theatre accompanied their introduction, having them walk down the length of seating in order to get to the stage.

The performance given by both Strand and Subair leads to a true insight into the working relationship between their characters, and when they eventually enter the Fortune Teller’s shack, their individual interactions opposite Sophie are very convincing. Frank is the first of the pair to have his fortune told, and here Sophie’s mask slips somewhat, and we see just how desperate she is for money after a quiet summer as Frank feeds information about Tom ahead of his reading later.

Strand characterises the cockiness of Frank perfectly, as he tells everyone about how he is the reason behind Tom’s success.

When it came time for Tom’s reading, we witness yet more of Sophie’s insanity as Tom reveals the elaborate web of lies he has created around his entire life, as he confesses to Sophie that not one part of the information fed to her by Frank was true. This revelation was done incredibly by Subair, whose excellent use of accents truly immerse us in the world of the characters.

Overall, the performance from all involved in White Liars was excellent, but the material the cast were working with was rather lacking at times, leaving to a rather slow first act.

After the interval, the house lights were cut, and instead of then having stage lights go up, the lead pair walked onto stage, and proceeded as if nothing was amiss. The couple, Brindsley and Carol, portrayed by Oli Butler and Emilia Lewis, had the audience in stitches from the outset.

The central gimmick of this play is that the lighter it is for the audience, the darker it is for the characters, which meant that when the power eventually cut in the play, the audience are dazzled with an incredibly bright light. The premise of the plot is that Brindsley is trying to be in a position to show off his sculpture work to the rich Georg Bamburger when the lights fail. In an effort to raise his perception in the eyes of Bamburger, Brindsley has borrowed many elaborate items from a rich neighbour, Harold Gorringe.

What followed was an incredible farce in which the audience can see everything the characters cannot. We are introduced to a whole array of supporting characters, starting with Miss Furnival played by Ella Beresford and Colonel Melkett played by Oreofe Subair. The incredible slapstick of this quartet moving around peaked with Carol suggesting drinks for everyone, but giving the teetotal Miss Furnival liquor by mistake in the darkness, leading to yet another highly entertaining comedic moment, the staggering of an old woman who has had too much to drink.

Beresford’s outstanding portrayal of Miss Furnival was only heightened by her phenomenal physical acting, as she crawled across the stage in her drunkenness, completely stealing the spotlight from the rest of the cast.

We later are introduced to Harold Gorringe, a hilariously camp, rich, old man who Josh Brooks embodies perfectly. Further comedy ensues as Brindsley has to stop Harold from finding out that most of his furniture is currently garnishing the house that he is currently in. The biggest laugh of the evening came when Jamie Strand, playing the electrician who comes to fix the lights, but is initially mistaken for Georg Bamberger, started caressing one of the sculptures that is present in the room while assessing how much it would be worth.

The standout performance had to be Alexandra Tyler, playing a lover of Brindsley – Clea. Her initial silence on the stage had the audience cackling as we waited for her to finally reveal herself to the room. The characterisation was jaw dropping in every aspect, but none more so than her phenomenal expressions.

The punchline of the show was when Georg Bamberger finally appeared, a true surprise to everyone, as he was being played by Ben Cawood, the show’s director. He swaggered on stage just in time for Strand’s character to declare the lights to be fixed, hence plunging the entire cast into darkness to rapturous applause.

The Production Team led by Production Manager Luna Oladiji facilitated the action perfectly. The lighting, being of such critical importance to Black Comedy, was masterfully designed by Lucy Smith, who really tied together both performances to each feel like a cohesive narrative. The choice not to mic up the cast led to much more immersive performances, although did heighten the difference between Vassi and the rest of the cast in White Liars.

Once again, Ben Cawood has demonstrated his incredible talent at bringing farces to life for Durham Student Theatre, in one of the funniest theatrical performances I have ever seen.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my 3 hours in the Assembly Rooms, although it has to be said that Black Comedy was far superior to the slightly slow and nowhere near as funny White Liars. The slightly lacklustre first play was no fault of the cast, however, but the poorer writing was definitely shown up by the simply phenomenal Black Comedy.

Images: Pitch Productions