GREEN FOR DANGER & LEAD BALLOON

"GREEN FOR DANGER"
EDWARD BOWDEN	Derek Green	EMMIE WAYNE	Gillian Mathieson
MRS GLOSSOP	Stephanie Dodds	POPPY CANTICLE	Pamela Moir
DOCTOR FRANKLIN	Robert Grice	LEONARD TROTTER	Peter Capaldi
"LEAD BALLOON"
KEN HOGGUS	Peter Capaldi	BELINDA HOGGUS	Maureen Murphy
MR. G.	Brian Lallaway	MRS LEGGE	Anne Gray
MRS BOOTLE	Leigh Pirret	REPORTER	Drew Anderson

A youthful and seasoned cast of Apex Players trod the boards at the Cumbernauld Studio Theatre on Friday Evening.

A double bill of two one act plays thrilled a full house - from the macabre to the downright comical.

"Green for Danger" by Philip Johnston, was directed by Apex's Rena Haldane, and told the eerie tale of a murderous bachelor, and his downfall at the hands of his wife-to-be.

Edward Bowden, played by a sinister Derek Green, taunted his fiancee Emmie Wayne, Apex's Gillian Mathieson, in her secluded village cottage. With a psychopathic history, and the previous murder of his former fiancee to his name, Bowden was intent on killing his second bride. But the tables were turned and Miss Wayne - sister of Bowden's former fiancee - poisoned the twisted schemer.

Miss Wayne's housekeeper Mrs Glossop (Stephanie Dodds) brought a breeze of fresh air into the production, as did Miss Wayne's friend Poppy Canticle (Pamela Moir). Both actresses graced the stage with ease, and performed otherwise difficult comic roles with enthusiasm.

Robert Grice was well cast in the do-good role of Dr Franklin, the doctor who is all heart.

"Lead Balloon" rose to great heights and expectations, as the second one act play of the evening unfolded. suitably upbeat, the production held the audience spellbound with the neurotic capers of the Hoggus family.

Peter Capaldi, who played Ken Hoggus, kept everyone in the studio doubled up with laughter a la Rikki Fulton style. The plot was thin, but the gags were numerous and notable.

Ken's wife, Belinda (Maureen Murphy) was the dartboard at which Ken threw all his best japes at. An unusual stage performance by Mr. G (Brian Lallaway) the gorilla added farce to the comic, with family friends Mrs Legge (Anne Gray) and Mrs Bootle (Leith Pirret) making Ken's antics look suitably manic.

Reporter (Drew Anderson) clothed himself in mac and fedora, making his dance routine look impressively absurd. In the end, Ken's raffle win was not the ownership of a zoo, which everyone had believed, but a mere bottle of whisky - from farce back to reality.