Shut Your Eyes and Think of England

It’s always a treat to go to Burtonwood and experience their productions for sheer comic value if nothing else. They certainly know how to pick a farce that not only accommodates their stage size but also plays to strengths of the cast available.

Director Judith Maffitt not only picked a fine line up of principals but also made each character different and very unique.

The set looked really fab and worked for the production  and the London skyline backdrop was so effective.

Brian Maffitt as Sir Justin Hallbrook was convincing and as natural as ever with fine delivery of the gags and one-liners, one after the other.

John Hickey’s character; Arthur Pullen is a hoot and must have been great fun to play whilst the Shiek, played by Simon Paris brought an equal amount of comic value.

Julie Ratcliffe as Stella Richards, the call girl who pretends to be Mrs. Pullen and a nurse too. Her funniest moment came when she exclaimed that Sir Justin suffered a heart attack in the middle of having sex with him. Hilarious.

Julie Bold was topnotch as she played the befuddled Mrs. Pullen who shrieked at the craziness around her. Julie always throws herself into character and id such a versatile performer.

Sue Sefton played the role of long suffering wife Lady Holbrook who knows her husband is a philanderer, and as always did a great job.

Overall a good effort from everyone involved however the prompt was quite busy the night I was in. I couldn’t work out if it was just opening night nerves or just slightly under rehearsed?  It was so great that the audience was completely on board with you all and everyone could laugh together when the lines were dropped.

Thank you once again for a really super evening as always.

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