No Sex Please We're British

How refreshing to walk into the Hall and be confronted by a sturdy open box set with appropriate furnishings, props and entrances, well considered to provide suitable access for copious in’s and out’s befitting a good old British farce!

And here we had a good old British farce with all the ingredients that go to make it possible. Now I will say that this show and perhaps every farcical play, needs a ‘Brian Runnicles’ (Stu Precious), who was prepared to be the butt of every joke and fall guy extraordinaire, even to run the gauntlet of losing his trousers and prancing around stage in a vest and baggy pair of M and S...er underpants, white of course! His was a really strong performance with excellent feigned accent sustained throughout. He personified the downtrodden, perhaps marginally bullied persona, who none the less is motivated to help and attempt resolve any situation in which he is involved, or as here, actually wrongly blamed! We loved him, even identified with him! Life can be very unfair when you are a ‘Runnicles’!

The whole team of actors gave a disciplined performance and brought out the comedy of each character from the ambitious newly married sub-bank branch manager Peter Hunter (Joe Learner), who trod a very thin line between loyalty to his new wife and his banking duties. With his eager to please, but a trifle naive, wife Francis (Natasha Bird), who is keen to add something to the couples income, we had the ingredients to this somewhat dated but hilarious script, with some resemblance to the old Whitehall Farces with Brian Rix (showing my age!). Relishing their new life in the company flat above the bank and a seemingly simple mapped out future...Things certainly did not go to plan. A nice rapport between these two was increasingly challenged by a seemingly minor, shall we say mix up, as somehow Francis had accidentally ordered some sleazy photographs from a dodgy mail order company, only to find that the Bank District Manager is arriving and Peter’s mother is arriving for a ‘short’ visit. His mother, the effervescent Eleanor (Emily Todd), as the archetypal busy body mother, blessed with the snobbish, pretentious persona (her words!) so often stereotyped, was perfect for the role and foil to the dour, almost boring Leslie Bromhead (Steve Taylor), with whom an unlikely relationship develops. You could only feel these two deserved each other! Add an easily led Bank Inspector Mr Needham (Ian Goddard), a seemingly over zealous on minor matters Detective Superintendent (David Clark), two ‘Happy Hookers’ Susan, and Barbara (Zina Vaitkeviciene, Laura Frosdick) intent on having a ‘good time’ even if the client didn’t! Even a brief but vital, well timed entrance from Delivery Man (Graham Bradford). All these potential characters converge on the hapless couple and the inevitable in’s and out’s turn into something of a, well... farce!

That’s it then, a great team and with fast moving dialogue cue bite, a well constructed set with no wobbles as the frenetic entrances and exits continued throughout, and technicals in support; what more could you ask for? This was a production where all the ingredients came together making for a riotous clash of uncomfortable circumstances, which in turn made for a very entertaining evening and one to be proud of as Spotlight presented their very first stage play… They do enjoy a challenge! We look forward to ‘Olivia’ in the Autumn!

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