By Heidi Trautmann

For two evenings the TRNC State Theatre came to Girne with a play by Robin Hawdon. What a chance for me to go and see it, a play directed by Nehir Demirel. The play has been running at the Atatürk Cultural Centre in Nicosia for the last month and will continue there as from Jan 11, 2019 (Tickets Tel. 0392 228 7191 – 0392 228 0191)

Storyline: Perfect Wedding is perhaps Robin Hawdon’s most popular play, with several hundred productions worldwide. A ‘perfect wedding’ day goes disastrously wrong, causing chaos to all concerned.

An appalling situation. A bridegroom wakes on his wedding morning in his own bridal suite, with his bride-to-be about to arrive any moment, and finds a strange girl in bed beside him.  What’s more an extremely attractive girl whom, in the depths of his post stag-night hangover, he can’t remotely remember even having been introduced to.  Worse – during the ensuing panic to get the stranger dressed and out of the way, the bride arrives, the girl is trapped in the bathroom, the best man has to pretend the hidden girl is his girl-friend, his real girl-friend has to be kept ignorant of the fact, and the hotel chamber-maid gets mistaken for everybody’s girl-friend!

By the time the bride’s parents and half the hotel staff get in on the act, the chaos reaches nuclear proportions. It is that rare combination – a riotous comedy and a touching love story at the same time.

Translation of the play: Özcan Özer

Director: Nehir Demirel

Cast

RACHEL (The Bride) Cevahir Caşgir

BILL (The Groom) Ahmet Alper Ayana

TOM (The Best Man) Deniz Aslim

JUDY (A Girl) Zehra Evliya Parıldak

JULIE (A Chamber-maid) Birce Birsel Çağlar Çiçekli

DAPHNE (The Bride’s Mother) Özlem Özkaram

Stage setting: Hüseyin Özinal

Costumes: Gülsen Dünki

And more…

Despite the rainy weather that reigned on Jan 08, the cozy theatre was full to the last seat and it reverberated with laughter with the development of the plot. Such is life, one can never tell.

Stage design…I remarked the fine colouring – grey – white and pink, the suits, ties, pictures, wedding dress, all in tune, even the balloons, randomly distributed.

The parts very well played … I just wonder what role the toilet brush was supposed to represent….

A lovely performance.

The ‘Girne Oda Tiyatrosu’ has issued a leaflet with their programme up to April 2019, people interested can also obtain it at the Girne Belediye. Reservation for the Girne Oda Tiyatrosu /Chamber Theatre Tel. 0533 821 2144 or: 0392 815 2119