The Silver Mask Theatre Group have received high priase for their latest production Travel With Us, which took place over a period of three consecutive nights.
The cast harvested many laughs from delighted audiences.
Marion Buz of A Ponte Colorida (Associação de Intercâmbio Cultural) commented "Thank you Silver Mask Theatre Group, for providing so much fun and entertainment with your excellent Variety Show Spring 2014 "Travel With Us", which took place in “A Ponte” on Saturday the 29th of March. The “Amigos da Ponte” loved your vibrant performance. We all hope that you will continue with your great multicultural project, and can’t wait to see more of you soon! Hopefully, you will also be part again of our Festival “Obrigado Portugal” this year, on the 4th and 5th of October, at Sítio das Fontes."
And Kenneth Struthers gave a shining review...
The Silver Mask Theatre Group over a period of three consecutive nights, from the 27th March to the 29th March this year, delivered yet another gem of entertainment. This time there were eight drum-tight playlets, giving the audience a series of highly amusing observations on the way we try to lead our lives. The first staging at the Holiday Inn in Armaçao de Pera, before an exalted audience, left them enthralled with the skill of the production. The subsequent two performances were hallmarked by delicate but telling adjustments to the script, yielding an even greater harvest of laughs for delighted audiences.
Jackie O'Grady, the Art. Dir. of the Silver Mask, asked that any review might mention the cast and their selfless contribution to the production. The majority have been with the Group since early 2013 when they launched Silver Mask with an elegant yet powerful interpretation of The Rhinoceros in the Silves Theatre. Perhaps a simple, thumbnail signature of each sketch would be a fair accolade of their dedicated efforts.
1. Sonia Walsham, with gloriously slapstick timing, plays the cynical travel agent coercing a young couple, played by charning, new girl Claudia Meca and group veteran Luis Reis, to swap the exciting holiday of their dreams for a two week package in the Algarve. Together the cast swiftly bring the audience into the spirit of the evening - a lot of laughs and some telling obervations on life.
2. Robert Brealey, playing the bumbling business man ineptly chats up Jenny Virgo's bored, worldly wise air hostess at a nameless airport. Great characterisation by both players with a hilarious punch line. Bob, the calm linchpin of previous performances, anchors the scene allowing Jenny, another new girl in the troup, to explore her part thoroughly to everyone's delight.
3. These cafe scenes widen the scope of the production and explore various myths and preconceptions about life. Jackie O'Grady and Jenny Virgo kick things off, musing wistfully about their sexual experiences, concealing till the end the true meaning of gayness. Ruth Denby takes over with a monologue of her own creation, laughing at the combined challenges of the approach of old age and the unremitting assault of technology - a funny view of the condition with a sobering undertone. Clarissa Meca, a single lady together with the young couple, Claudia and Luis, bring us back to normality with calming observations on Algarvian life.
4. A trully wonderful piece of theatre. Elaine Evans delivers a "tour de force" performance as an increasingly irate passenger being forced to size her cabin baggage at check-in. Absolutely everyone who has experienced mindless burocracy (we live in Portugal) will howl with laughter. Fare-paying passenger tortured by jobs worth into fruitless rage. The remainder of the cast ham it up in the background trying to beat airline rules.
5. Jenny and Clarissa opened up after the interval with delightful little sketch in a greengrocer's shop. A send up of technology's silly names - blackberry, apple, orange and of course Clarissa's husband's "dongle". Effortless fun.
6. Luis gives a monologue about "moving out". Every couple can identify with the frustrations he highlights. Very amusing, perhaps even a sober lesson, until we are caught by the sting in the tail. We all laughed along.
7. Robert and Jenny play a couple of culturally challenged tourists in Shakespeare's birthplace - they stumble into a local house mistaking it for "his" house. Their enthusiastic ignorance and impossibly misguided understanding of Shakesleare's life and times has the audience rocking. Luis play the householder and a foil to the couples sillyness.
8. This last sketch is played out in a saloon. A play within a play. Involving the whole cast it was visually exciting, displayed the competance of the group and brought the evening to rewarding conclusion.. Elaine was just incredible as a baddie and Claudia's "joanna" playing drew attention to the professionalism of the whole pressentation - she actually played. Buck Owens "Act Naturally" sung by all of Silver Mask finished the night with another cracker.
For more information about the Silver Mask Theatre Group please email silvermasktheatregroup@gmail.com.
