Review: SLEUTH AND ONE FOR THE POT at SHAW FESTIVAL

An embarrassment of artistic riches has yet again convened in Niagara on the  Lake for this season’s Shaw Festival. Two very different plays  are given world class productions sharing many of the same talents. Last week I attended Anthony Shaffer’s psychological thriller SLEUTH at the intimate Court House Theatre as well as the raucous British farce ONE FOR THE POT by Ray Cooney and Tony Hilton at the Festival Theatre. Both  were splendid examples of what this fine repertory theatre continues to produce season after season.

SLEUTH is full of intrigue from the get go. Mystery writer Andrew Wyke invites distant neighbor Milo Tindle over one evening. As the two men get settled in over a drink, Andrew gets down to brass tacks and states, “ I hear you want to marry my wife !” How’s that for an opener. The two must come to an understanding,  decide on terms, and establish ground rules, as if bartering for property. The details are a convoluted game of cat and mouse, or an intense tennis match, as the men quite literally bandy about tennis scores.

Patrick Galligan is the smug Andrew, who appears to have the upper hand and decides the plot to relinquish his wife. But as a mystery writer and a man who is having his own affair, the plan is circuitous and well thought. Galligan gives a cool calm portrayal with an air of eccentricity that is required. But his sparring partner is no slouch. Sepehr Reybod plays Milo at first as a naive subjugate, willing to concede to Andrew’s demands. Until the tables are turned. Shaffer employs references to Wyke’s own books to aid in the onstage plot and gives the impression that Milo is a rube. But plot twists abound and the secondary characters of the second act disrupt the entire plan, leaving the audience bewildered until the final curtain. By the second act Reybod has morphed into a domineering new character who has taken on a new life. The end game is unclear and the two actors psychologically spar with each other as the clock ticks down.

Director Peter Fernandes maintains civility among the two in the calm English estate until the eeriness of the story oozes  in. A creepy clown costume, a talking puppet and gun shots all add to the mood. As the actors each fear for their lives and the potential lives of their loved ones, the story is not so much of  a whodunnit but who will get away with it. 

Set Design by Sim Suzer is highly detailed and effective in it’s hidden nooks and passages, all carefully lit by Michael Kangas.

Both Galligan and Reybod are intense in their portrayals, always convincing in ways that have the audience believing they are telling the truth. But Shaffer is a master of writing characters that are so good at lying it is near impossible to know the truth. The build up to the  spectacular final scene could ho in any direction, and is fully satisfying in the hands of this fine cast. 

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ONE FOR THE POT could not be more different than SLEUTH. It is a farce of epic proportions whose only job is to entertain by shear silliness. But such a farce only works if it is a well oiled machine, pain stakingly rehearsed, cast, and choreographed. And happily this jovial play ticks all of those boxes. Oh yes, and the lead character just happens to be played by Peter Hernandes ( see above). 

Rich mill owner Jonathan Hardcastle ( Patrick Galligan)  wants to give 10,000 pounds to the only son of a dead friend. Enter Hickory Woods ( played by Hernandes), the very dim witted rightly heir. But propriety insists that an ad be placed in the area newspapers that any other family member may come forth to claim the family money. Lo and behold, an identical long lost twin brother appears, played also by Fernandes. And chaos ensues. A droll conniving butler Jugg , played by the very funny Sanjay Talwar,  is the only one in on the twists and turns plot. 

Nitwit sister Amy, played by Fiona Byrne, traipses about, lovesick for the Hardcastle’s  barister Arnold Piper played by the ever popular Neil Barclay . Martin Happer  is quite  hilarious as fake lawyer Charlie Barnet, who intends to take  a cut of Woods’ inheritance. Happer handles the physical comedy with aplomb. Galligan here is confined to a wheelchair for the majority of the show due to his gouty foot, but makes the most of his few attempts at walking and glides around with a comical commanding presence.

Woods real wife Winnie makes a surprise appearance, played by the deliciously coarse Jade Repeta. Her shrieks, screams and  cries somehow seem tailor made for the silliness.  Camille Eanga-Selenge as Cynthia Hardcastle is sidled with the only straight laced role in the entire play, and she is a trooper amongst the chaos. 

The herculean role of all of the Woods brothers requires laser like concentration, a myriad of accents, physical agility and spot on comic timing…and Fernandes was just the one to deliver on all accounts. The bits of prancing, strutting and “stagey walking” done by Fernandes were giggle inducing. He won over the audience with his earnest performance and made even the most stoic hater of farces a convert.

Cooney and Hilton were masters of this genre, often assuming leading roles in their own plays. The plot of ONE FOR  THE POT  is clever in it’s outline, leaving plenty of leeway for double entendres and puns. The one liners sail by quickly, and can be easily missed without much consequence, but add a grin when noticed. Director Chris Abraham  surely has a tight grasp on the proceedings, as the action could derail at any moment. The timing was spot on and the directorial creative touches were appreciated at every turn. The wordy script and second act alliterative tongue twisters could challenge even the best actors, but were handled deftly. 

The magnificent set by Michael Gianfrancesco is a character in and of itself. With a ramp for the ever moving wheelchair, slamming doors, trick drawers, singing cuckoo clocks, an oversized bear skin rug, ghastly modern art, paired with  spit takes, cross dressing, silly dances, breakaway props, stunt doubles and mind boggling exit/entrance combinations, this show epitomizes farce. The fantastic costumes by Ming Wong  are frothy and befitting of the era. 

Just as a Noel Coward comedy or a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta bespeaks the perfect balmy summer’s entertainment, so too does a frothy British farce. And ONE FOR THE POT should be on everyone’s must see list.

SLEUTH runs through October 9, 2026. ONE FOR THE POT runs through October 11, 2026.

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