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Cuppers Review: Real Inspector Hound

“You can’t start with a pause” remarks one of the critics Birdboot and Moon seated in the audience as the Exeter performance of their adaptation of The Real Inspector Hound opens. Luckily, he was one of Stoppard’s overblown affected critics and their antics had the audience tickled from the start. Not only did they begin by throwing chocolates around the auditorium – never a bad way to start – but succeeded in rooting us in the play-within-a-play idea even before the real drama began.

The critics captured well a pretentious disinterestedness in what was unfolding before them. In a way, however, you can’t really blame them. The meat and bones of the whodunit are sadly lacking, judging by any standards, let alone Agatha Christie’s. But this is part of the beauty of Stoppard’s production and Exeter played into this, never taking themselves or the action too seriously. 

The murder mystery all begins when the housekeeper of Muldoon Manor discovers the news that a madman is on the loose. Naturally we are reminded by Birdboot to watch out for the ‘outsider’ (of which there are plenty to choose from) and so the play begins. The love triangle between Simon Gascoyne and the two friends – Cynthia Muldoon and Felicity Cunningham – was well played and Cynthia’s insistence that she still loved Albert coming straight after her passionate embrace with Gascoyne brought much laughter from the audience.

Not all the actors were equally strong, some struggling to really get into character but one notable performance was that of Mrs Drudge – witty yet practical, she gave us the breath of fresh air we need among the chaos of a murder mystery where the victim lies unnoticed throughout the majority of the play. She used her comical script to full advantage, in particular reminding us frequently that the fog was coming in more and more flowery terms as the play came towards its climax.

It’s never easy going last – Trinity performed an adaptation of the same Stoppard play just two days before – especially with such a precedent as Stoppard’s. But Exeter weren’t intimidated and I thoroughly enjoyed their interpretation. (Plus, I got a chocolate into the bargain – what more could you want?)

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