Reviewed by David Smith
March 2015
This Alan Ayckbourn four hander is a little beauty, and experienced director Norm Craddock’s sure hand at the helm ensured the cast extracted pretty well every last laugh from the script.
Act 1 Scene 1 is by nature a little slower than the rest, but on opening night the action, too, was a little laboured. The initial interior set was serviceable enough and that scene was followed by the play’s only scene change which was pretty slow. The ensuing patio scene, which remained for the rest of the play, was very fetching indeed.
The way it all took off after that first scene was a fine example of the farce genre. The pace was cracking, the inevitable misunderstandings were superbly timed and the visual and verbal gags all worked well.
The cast was evenly balanced and all four characters were credible, a necessity given the unlikely circumstances they constantly encountered. By necessity the script provided several different two-person scenes, and all of the pairings were equally crisp and entertaining.
Rachael Horbelt as Ginny and Lee Cook as Greg were delightful as the younger couple and both handled the plot’s growing confusion and embarrassment with surety. Peter Davies played the aging roué, Philip, with aplomb and his increasing lack of comfort was skilfully wrought, and highly entertained the large audience. Rhonda Grill, as his wife Sheila, completed this fine ensemble. She began as a domesticated, naïve soul but as the action proceeded she revealed her underlying stronger character who got the final word, and last laugh.
