Pacy parody tickles the funny bone

Theatre

Murder, vice, beautiful women, farce, anger, weapons, death - they're all subjects close to lawyers' hearts.

It is no wonder, then, that thespians from Adelaide's legal circles dominate the cast of the Theatre Guild's next production, The Real Inspector Hound.

Playwright Sir Tom Stoppard's sparkling send-up of the "whodunit" murder mystery and the accompanying parody of theatre critics is a "beautifully constructed piece of writing", according to director and criminal lawyer John Wells.

Wells's theatrical talents were honed at the University of Adelaide's drama department in the late 1980s while studying for a law degree.

He was one of the founding members of Parting Company, a local theatre group which performed many Shakespearean plays and comedy reviews through to the mid 1990s.

The Real Inspector Hound is a short play written by Stoppard in 1961. The storyline follows two theatre critics, Moon and Birdboot, who are watching a ridiculous set-up of a country house murder mystery in the style of a "whodunit". By accident, they become involved in the action, causing a series of events that parallel the play they are watching.

"If you like death, intrigue and wit, you will really enjoy this play," John said. "It will appeal to theatre goers with a literate humour. It is very intelligent but also very playful."

The characters include glamorous starlets, raffish cads, a mysterious gun-toting wheelchair-bound outsider, an unhinged police officer, as well as two bombastic theatre critics.

Dr Ben McCann, a lecturer in French at the University of Adelaide, plays one of the central characters, Moon.

A relative newcomer to the University (he arrived in mid April), Dr McCann has an enviable reputation in amateur theatre. In 1999 he was voted Best Student Actor of the Year while studying at the University of Bristol in the UK. His acting repertoire includes plays by Shakespeare, Sam Shepard, Mike Leigh, David Mamet, Molière and Oscar Wilde. He has also turned his hand to directing - both French and English plays.

"This is my first foray into Stoppard and I'm looking forward to it," he said. "It is very much an Agatha Christie-type scenario, with various different levels of reality.

"Sir Tom Stoppard has built his whole career on playing with the conventions of the theatre. This production is very liberating for an actor because it is a relatively short play, but quite pacy, and leaves you room to experiment with your character."

The Real Inspector Hound opens at the Little Theatre, The Cloisters (off Victoria Drive) at the University of Adelaide on Saturday 30 September at 7.30pm. Other performances are from 3-7 October and 10-14 October.

Tickets $25 full/$20 concession. Tuesday performances $15 for University students and staff.

Story by Candy Gibson