Run for your Wife

In the best tradition of farce the plot of Run for your Wife is unlikely and somewhat ridiculous – but great fun.  When I arrived at the theatre (a day late having been literally almost literally ‘blown away’) I was under the impression that I was quite familiar with the play – but it would appear that when the film of this successful play was made in 2013 it was re-written – however the main focal point is still John Smith and his bigamous marriages!

Many congratulations on the set it looked good, especially the two very differently coloured doors which really emphasised the different flats – and the actors never strayed from the integrity of the two flats – there was just one heart stopping moment when I thought one person was going to go out of the wrong door.

The single most important aspect of any farce is pace – don’t give the audience too much time to examine the plot – and by and large you kept the pace up wonderfully.  There were a couple of memory lapses which were easily forgiven because the pace was soon picked up again – but more importantly the characters were just so well drawn and portrayed excellently.  There were some wonderful facial expressions from every single member of the cast.  I am very deliberately not going to mention any single character because each one was as good as the next – and there was also some very generous acting – no one was upstaged and each and every one was able to bask in a moment of pure comedy.

Direction was good - despite the complication of all those doors – and none of the moves looked false or contrived.  The play had obviously been cast well as everyone looked very comfortable in their own role – just one small point on casting somehow I thought that Mary looked a little young for the part she was playing?   The only other and slightly jarring, point was the black-out both at the end of act 1 and the end of the play – I felt, on both occasions, it would have been so much more effective if there had been an instant blackout rather than the short delay the we experienced.

Perhaps the most important thing overall is the audience – and they (and I) loved it – lots of laugh out loud moments – delivered well.  All in all a great evening of fun, lots of laughs, great acting and  wonderful facial expressions – just a great evening of hedonistic pleasure  what more could you ask for on a cold, wet, windy February evening?  Thank you Centenary, for another great evening of entertainment, an always warm welcome and your generous hospitality.

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