Misfits Audio presents Amusing Grace. This is a full length play presented in five parts, five separate downloads. It was recorded at University of Toronto with a live audience in 2000, so we have something here that is almost 9 years old.
It's a play about two lonely old people who live in the same building and meet on the roof where they play Trivial Pursuit. This set up immediately brings to mind a very famous and successful play D. L Coburn's The Gin Game. It is unfortunate that Amusing Grace shares this immediate opening similarity, especially when it invites comparison with The Gin Game a very good and well known play.
Is it possible that Amusing Grace's Neville J. Bryant was unaware of The Gin Game? Or did he just see it as a situation he wished to explore in spite of the obvious similarity?
At any rate Amusing Grace is an entertaining, gentle listen. It features a very good and convincing leading performance by Hasel Dalgleish as Grace. Too bad she did not have a performer of equal ability in Jim Hooper as Danny. Hooper simply never comes off as a 78 year old man. His voice has too much of the tenor, not quite grow up, sort of Ira Glass sound. All in the head, nothing resonating in the old body which would have been nice to hear in this particular role. He is just too adolescent sounding. Not only that his readings too often sound like reading, are not felt. It is a shame because Hasel Dalgleish is so fine and deserved a much better sparring partner.
That said it is really a rather amusing listen. It is pleasant to spend some time with these folks on their rooftop. The scenes are framed by some very nice music by the play's author Mr. Bryant. It might have been good if he went ahead and made it a nice little musical play.
Anyway, it is all worth a listen and good to hear an amateur audio drama involved with issues, themes, more homebound rather than all the fantasy, and TV space opera stuff.
