Boeing Boeing

I have to declare that farce is not one of my favourite forms of comedy, it requires a really good script, immaculate timing and exceptional pace and then the ability to brush over what is usually a totally implausible plot. Then to take on one from a completely different era, when attitudes, especially towards women were themselves completely different is very brave indeed. However, HDC it turned out knew exactly where they were going and in the main ticked all the right boxes and came up with this thoroughly entertaining show directed by Ashton Cull.

Boeing Boeing was first produced in 1962 and was a huge hit, which ran for several years on both Broadway and in the West End. It is the classic ‘girl in every port’ story, however in this case the man in question, Bernard, has three airline hostesses (today’s vernacular would be ‘cabin crew’) of different nationalities - all his ‘fiancées', who have different work schedules on international flights, thus coming and going on different days, who return to the apartment situated near the airport after each flight, where each assumes it is their home and they are the only woman in Bernard’s life. Inevitably of course the flight schedules go to pot, and they all end up returning at the same time thus creating the classic ‘four-door farce’ and Bernard, aided and abetted by his best friend Robert, desperately tries to keep them from bumping into each other.

The set by Adele Meads was a well-designed and decorated classic, late sixties style lounge in Bernard’s Paris apartment, containing four doors - three bedrooms and a bathroom - plus a front entrance rear stage left depicted as a corridor. The furniture was a sofa in the middle of the stage, a table with a chair stage right and a drinks trolley at the front stage left.  It worked very well except the bedroom door downstage right could possibly have done with a little more anchorage and when the doors to the rear opened there was just a black void which could have done with some background scenery or even just some lighting.

The lighting by Max Richardson and  Annapoorna Sabari was excellent and lit the set very well indeed. Sound by Dean Laccohee was crystal and with good projection by the entire cast never gave my aging ears any problems. Excellent job on both lighting and sound.

Costumes designed by Sarah Stammler were outstanding, especially for the airline hostesses, with primary coloured uniforms in red, yellow and blue respectively. Super job!

The usual theatrical safety notices were superbly well done and got us chuckling before the action even started. They were announced as you expect to hear when you’re first seated on any flight. The three-airline hostess came up the isles from the rear of the auditorium and went through the motions of demonstrating the exits to the theatre as per every crew on any flight, added to by some comedic announcement of his own by the recorded announcer, the director himself, Ashton Cull.

Chris Turner played the super confident Bernard, watching his world and love life unravel before his eyes with a very well measured performance. Chris Thompson, as his best friend Robert was the more manic character who actually deals with the stress which is all of Bernard’s making. Excellent chemistry between the two of them as they conspire to keep the girls apart, and loved the last few lines of the show as they sat exhausted on the sofa with the running catch phrase ‘it’s not impossible!’

The three airline hostesses: Adele Meads as the Italian, Gabriella, Katy Palmer as the American, Gloria and Rhiannon Owens as the German, Gretchen all mastered their respective accents beautifully. This was Katy's first production with the Club and Adele and Rhiannon  in only their second for HDC. Two of the three, according to the programme, were professionally trained and the quality of the acting from all three of them reflected that.

My favourite character however had to be the maid Bertha, played by Louise West. As the only adult in the room, her facial expressions, argumentative backchat and delivery of cutting comments were worth the ticket price alone. Superb comedic performance.

HDC’s production was, at the end of the day, extremely good - the pace was relentless, the timing immaculate and the quick-fire, interactive dialogue very well delivered indeed. Everybody had obviously put in a lot of hard work to bring the show to this level and Aston Cull, his cast and crew can be rightly proud of this one. Can’t say it changed my mind on farce, but I did leave the theatre having been thoroughly entertained.

The informative programme by Miles Greves also deserves a mention, which was cleverly laid out to reflect the airline industry theme, with an aircraft leaving a vapour trail running through the crew list and even having a recruitment advert for HDC itself with a picture of a sunset skyline taken through an aircraft porthole. Very neat.

Finally, many thanks for the excellent hospitality shown to us by the FOH staff!

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