Reviewed by Wendy Mildren
March 2010
Therry commenced its 2010 season with a polished production of Eric Chapell’s comedy Haywire, very ably directed by Ian Rigney.
The story is about Alec Firth, a bookseller, attempting to have an extra marital spree over Easter in Spain with his assistant. He organizes his wife to have a tour seeing three capital cities and the tulip show and he thinks he is home free, and that is when things start to go horribly wrong. His wife has bought a puppy who has fleas, his demented mother decides to leave the nursing home, his son has a broken ankle and wants some TLC, and his daughter arrives very pregnant!
Robin Schmelzkopf played Alec to the hilt. It was an extremely wordy part and he appeared to do it flawlessly. Lyn Pike as the wife, Maggie, was believable and exhibited good comedic timing. Vicki Barrett as the love interest, Liz, looked the part. Myfanwy May as the demented Welsh witch almost stole the show as she delivered her lines with maximum impact. Patrick Clements as the lay-about son, Jamie, handled his crutches with great panache, and Amelia Skaczkowski as the very pregnant daughter, Mandy, handled her small role well. In all the cast looked at home on the set and delivered their lines extremely well and got maximum laughs.
The only criticism of the show would be the set. This reviewer doesn’t like painted books, especially when there were real books on the set, which tended to highlight the deficiency. However, this did not detract from the audience’s appreciation of the production.
