FALCON PLAYERS IN "A LADY MISLAID"
One just can't be too careful when buying a house in an unfamiliar part of the country. Especially if "one" happens to be two yound sisters in search of peace and quiet, and it turns out that the police want to dig up the cellar and generally take the place apart in search of a possible cadaver - that of the previous owners wife. Not unnaturally the ladies are a trifle resentful of this constabulary research work. Thing become even more difficult when the former owner turns up, and returns again seeking shelter later in the night when the younger sister has contrived to get herself and her fiance stuck miles from anywhere in a car which has run out of petrol (A likely tale!).
Fortunately the garrolous police sergeant returns also - so whe don't feel too bad about leaving the elder and rather impressionable Esther alone with the two of them during the interval. After that things move so quickly and become so involved that even the author (Kenneth Horne) has a job to get them straightened up before the final curtain.
Betty Deacon's production of this rather macabre comedy ran smoothly, and was well staged and lit - Robert Smithurst, the designer, having taken great pains to make the Corn Exchange stage look really cosy with a nice half-timbered built on three levels (a very sound scheme, helping audience visibility). The company worked well together. Gwen Plummer, a bustling Mrs. Small, would be obviously a real treasure of a daily woman, Wendy de'Ville was Jennifer, thr younger Miss Williams with some literary pretensions.
As her sister. Esther, who had a well-developed streak of sympathy for under-dogs in general, suspected murderers in particular, and unsuccessful detectives in the long run. Nora Starosta carried the greater burden of the acting capably and with unruffled calm. Michael Allaby was the chatty D.Sgt. Bullock, and Alan Chapman - with a fierce selection of sporting pullovers - was a lively George, fiance to Jennifer.
Alan Gent gave a suitably ambiguous performance as the suspect for the murder, while Betty Deacon appeared briefly, but effectively as his wife.
F.G.S.