Charley's Aunt

This wonderful Victorian farce, written by Brandon Thomas in 1892 and performed ever since, has definitely stood the test of time and this production certainly did it justice.

The play centres on three Oxford undergraduates, Jack Chesney, Charles Wykeham and their friend Lord Fancourt Babberley (Babbs).  With Jack and Charles determined to marry the girls of their dreams, they are awaiting the arrival of a millionaire aunt, Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez, who is to act as a chaperone, allowing them to meet Amy and Kitty for lunch.

However, the planned arrival of the aunt, from Brazil – “where the nuts come from!” - is delayed which results in Babbs being persuaded to impersonate her, with hilarious consequences.  A variety of plots ensues with the arrival of Jack’s father, the real aunt along with her niece Ela Delahay and Stephen Spettigue, uncle of Amy and guardian of Kitty, who must give permission for their marriages.

The Director will have been delighted with the performances of all his characters, several of whom gave excellent portrayals, which extracted the best from his good production.  Ivan Hall gave Jack an energetic character and he accomplished a challenging opening segment, where he is writing a love letter to his intended, very well.  Working with him, and with equal vigour, was Jordan Butler as the naïve Charles and the duo’s persuasion of an initially unwilling Babbs to carry out the deception was extremely funny.

Chris Wales was excellent as Babbs.  Once fully frocked, Babbs warms to his task and there were some superb slapstick style passages, the actor’s timing being first rate and his facial expressions wonderful.

Supporting performances needed to be strong and here we had good characterisations from everyone including an excellent Katrina Stead as Donna Lucia, John Eaves (Colonel Sir Francis Chesney) and Megan O’Neill (Ela).  Steve Upton played Spettigue (who ends up fancying the dressed up Babbs) and the cast was completed by Jon Risden as Brassett (Jack’s ever-present valet), Lottie Knowles as Amy and Laura Pinder as Kitty.

I liked the set which did everything it needed to and there were some good lighting effects.

The pace was maintained well although it did seem to drop back a bit in the final act.  However this did not detract from a thoroughly enjoyable performance to an audience in fits of laughter most of the time.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.