Caught in the Net

Director Chris Morter managed to persuade the cast from ‘Run for your Wife’ to work again on this follow-up Ray Cooney, and it had to be thus to achieve the continuity; and also to reconstruct the set from last year which was robust and coped with all the frenetic running and allowed for much banging of doors etc., excellent.

So once again the casting was a dream, and with the addition of the two ’youngsters’, Josh Francis-Lloyd and Laura Butcher who worked so well in creating the mayhem and vital to the story, the families and lodger in the houses at Streatham and Wimbledon formed this great team.   In part 2, the wives Barbara and Mary, Becky Scott and Beth Robertson, were fractionally less involved then in part 1, although important and keeping up the characters and the comedy timing and especially the final twist of the tale in which they triumphed in style.  Inclusion in this follow-up (with exclusion of police presence) of Dad (Fred Nash) as the hapless family member who had one aim to get to Felixstowe, a very well-timed and well-drawn performance keeping up the speed of action and causing problems not anticipated.

And the outstanding performances, the stars and cream of the night, causing the audience to feel totally exhausted just watching the antics and listening to the huge amount of speedy dialogue, Tom Key as John Smith and Paul Woodhouse as the lodger Stanley Gardner just sparked and pushed each other faster and faster into more outrage and as a team could not be bettered, and although their separate performances were outstanding, the sum total just bubbled and made the temperature rise as they egged on the hilarity.  They must have been exhausted by the final curtain.

This production achieved all that farce demands and more, the pace was relentless and frenetic, all dialogue heard in spite of the phenomenal pace, the moves flexible and more than mobile, and the timing immaculate.   An example to all groups on how to bring farce to the stage and Ray Cooney would have been very pleased.  And we all hurt with the non-stop laughter through the performance, thank you for the evening.

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