Piano/Forte

Piano/Forte by Terry Johnson

Third year students performed Terry Johnson's black farce Piano/Forte in the recently re-opened Derby Theatre Studio in February 2010.

Along with A Clockwork Orange these were the first two productions to take place in the Studio since the University acquired the former Derby Playhouse.

Overview

Piano/Forte is an extravagant mix of farce, black comedy, melodrama and erotic circus. It is a bold new comedy from one of the stage's favourite writers, Terry Johnson.

On the eve of his wedding to the glamorous Dawn, Clifford's plans for a joyous celebration are thrown into turmoil by the return home of his estranged daughter Louise. Her plans to exact revenge prove to have explosive consequences.

My Cultural Life Magazine describes the story: "Abby, a retiring girl in her early twenties is preparing the family home for her father's wedding when Louise, her rebellious older sister, arrives unexpectedly. Wild haired and fresh from the circus, Louise is a brazen, foul mouthed foil to stammering Abigail. Bursting uproariously into the quiet country house which her sister shares with Australian uncle Ray, Louise's (dishevelled) appearance heralds a crisis.

"Much of the first half is spent with Louise barraging her family with witty repartee and being variously outrageous, unclothed and bawdy — climaxing in an unexpected flourish of phallus-laden acrobatics from the Spanish waiting staff. A tentative complicity between the two sisters develops against their domineering, florid and libidinous Tory MP father Clifford. Dawn, his blousy-yet-sweet glamour model fiancé, punctuates Louise's acerbic tirades with gauche remarks and references to her reality-TV roots.

"In the second half, the trifling calamity of Clifford and Dawn's wedding gives way to a series of darker revelations about the fate of the sisters' mother, peppered with commentary from Alicia de Witte's exemplary piano playing."

The team

Piano/Forte was directed by Jess Morland,
Set & Costume Design by Amie Shore,
Lighting by Liz Murton,
Sound by Sharon Marnell,
Production Manager was Erica Hunter
and DSM was Jenny Roche.

The acting company comprised Gemma Blake, Carla Gallagher-Cusack, Syann Hall, Adam McGrellis, Rosie Mitchell, Will Tipper and Chris Truman.

Piano/Forte will be performed again as part of Buxton Opera House Studio Season in the Paupers Pit Theatre, Buxton.