Cash on Delivery

Performed at The Thameside Theatre, Grays on Friday 17 May 2024 at 7:45pm                           

This farce, written by Michael Cooney, carries on a great British theatre tradition. I don’t think I have seen a funnier script perfectly delivered by an excellent cast. I didn’t stop laughing from start to finish.

Ian Benson played Eric Swan; I was very impressed by his performance, the nuances of the character were beautifully presented and how he and the rest of the cast managed to keep track of the characters that they portrayed, within the play was masterful.

Michael Southgate played Norman Bassett with perfect timing and great characterisation. Some of his facial expressions were enough to make me laugh out loud. Cody Gray played Eric’s wife Linda well, again a great characterisation. Kevin Watts played Uncle George well, but it was his behaviour when the character was thought to be dead that brought the most laughs.

Wayne Prince was the civil servant, Mr Jenkins, a great performance and his deterioration into a drunken stupor was very entertaining. Lauren Jones portrayed Sally Chessington beautifully, this was a tricky character and she absolutely nailed it.

Trevor Povey (Dr Chapman) and George Andelon (Mr Forbright, the undertaker) were both great characters and Jill Snelling was terrific as Ms Cowper. The cast was completed by Sophie Nash as Norman’s fiancé, Brenda Dixon, another good performance.

Each actor brought their part to life, the typical, farcical, situations were given full measure. This was a very experienced cast and they simply had so much fun with the script.

The standing set was robust (as it needs to be when doors are constantly being slammed). It was beautifully presented and although I know that they had trials and tribulations getting it ready, it was very effective and worked perfectly for this farce. Costumes were spot on and the whole appearance of the play was right.

Sound and lighting were fine, although one or two of the mics did not get turned up on time, this theatre has such good acoustics that this was not an issue.

My thanks for the welcome, it is always a pleasure to see Thurrock Courts Players perform and I look forward to the next time.

Tessa Davies on behalf of Natalie Hills

District 10

NODA East

 

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