Old Actors Never Die They Simply Lose the Plot

This was my first visit to the beautiful Ifield barn theatre (parts of which are 700 years old) and the only thing warmer and more charming than the old house herself were the people involved in putting on what was a very entertaining production. I was given a delightful welcome and enjoyed every part of the evening, not just the wonderful performance, but the guided tour and meeting the company.

Director/Chair/Wardrobe Mistress, Janine Robins production was as bright and entertaining as the lady herself, with imaginative use of a cast who achieved type particularly well. Each of the company brought a personality and depth of character that gave the excellent and very funny script, by Lynn Brittney, a full three dimensions and made it an immersive experience.

My old pal Colin White was the first to hit Brian Hawkins' stupendous stage set in the role of the 'confirmed bachelor' Walter Neville, as he began an eventful first few days at the home for old actors run by the symbiotic host Ann Thompson, played by Charlotte Killeen.

The story, for the uninitiated, is a comedy centring  around love-rat actor Edmund Sullivan, an oily ladies man, beautifully delivered by Jonathan Hope, who has string of lovers and three ex-wives wonderfully and diversely executed by Sue Middleton [Phyllida], Christine Linden Smith [Juliet] and Paula Mayne [Rebecca].

Ed is in all manner of trouble after eschewing the affections of the mother of Russian mafia principal Mike Molinsky, convincingly played by Anthony Barden and supported by Tony Haybittle, who played the silent but clearly deadly Dmitri alongside Jackie Cawthra as a buxom and rather too convincing Soviet dominatrix, Irina.

Confusion and chaos abound as all of the staff and residents of the home including the effervescent maid Marcia, superbly played by Jaime Guvench and the recently widowed masochist Danny Stiller, portrayed by the clearly gifted comic Martin Livesey, get drawn in to the farcical plot of framing Ed for the fictitious murder of Mrs Molinsky, only to discover that she has eloped with a Mexican gardener in Las Vegas!

This was an evening of perfectly conveyed British farce in a quintessentially British community theatre alongside company so charming that one could not help but acquiesce and thoroughly enjoy the occasion.

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