Last of the Summer Wine

Performing a much-loved television series is not easy, especially when the characters are so well- known and defined. The audience expect the actors to represent these characters in every way and we knew that this was going to be funny. It did not disappoint in any way whatsoever.

This was a first-class and well-directed production with each member of the cast giving confident performances. The pace of the dialogue and comedy timings were perfect.   

Perfectly cast and working very well together were Frank Bardsley as Foggy, Mark Hague as Clegg and Gregg Muscroft as the annoying Compo complete with scruffy clothes and looking as if but a good wash wouldn’t go amiss. The trio were outstanding in their roles.

Foggy has designs on winning the affections of Constance, Nora Batty’s niece, and long-suffering fiancée of boring Gifford Bewmont with Mike Flint performing this hapless character exactly right. With the help of Clegg, Foggy invites the ladies around for supper. They were unaware that a mysterious flasher is stalking the local community whom Gifford is determined to apprehend. Foggy is dismayed when Compo turns up unannounced (no, he is not the flasher) causing mayhem throughout. Gifford’s efforts to capture the flasher lead to mistaken identities and even more chaos. When the flasher is eventually unmasked it turns out that he was trying to promote a special inside-leg measuring ruler – resulting in a number of comical scenes.

Sue Martin was excellent as the extremely well-known and defined character of Nora Batty – complete with wrinkled stockings and loud voice and taking control of everything. The scene between Nora and Compo with his hand up the back of her blouse was hilarious. Sue Briggs gave a great performance as Nora Batty’s niece, Constance, who couldn’t make up her mind who to marry. The Flash, wandering around the stage in a raincoat and “flashing” a light was superbly played by Elliot Cable. With Elliot’s stature, being shoved into a serving hatch and then a wheelbarrow is not an easy task. With all the mayhem happening our trio’s evening is nearly undone by all this madness.

Congratulations to Neil and the cast and everyone involved in this excellent production. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and like the rest of the audience was in fits of laughter.

Thank you for the invite and hospitality and a most enjoyable evening.

 

 

 

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