The Fall and Rise of Gordon Grimshaw

How very apposite was this comedy for the village of Rustington. The backbone of the story is about a couple retiring to the seaside on approaching retirement from the London suburbs and getting to know the neighbours. Not just that, but dealing with the seagull problem when living near the sea.  

The part of Gordon (Martin Sworn) was acted brilliantly throughout the action. He played the easy going and devoted husband to his rather straight-laced wife, Marion (Nadya Henwood). The character required her to be the totally organised and methodical type and did not need any distractions to upset her routine. This was achieved very well.

The first neighbour to complicate matters was the am dram actor Gina (Claire Mitchell) who took an immediate shine to Gordon - probably not the first time that this sort of thing had happened to her. The part was played to great effectiveness. When her husband Tony (Zahir White) arrives, he is not what we would expect to see. He is the local wheeler dealer and number one seagull hater. Anything dodgy was acceptable to this character but the portrayal of it was certainly not.    

The two next-door neighbours were Joy (Helen Chewter) and Millicent (Sarah Johnson). The two were complete opposites in nature and approach to life. These people were also well cast and convincing. The other two distractions for the Grimshaws were Danny Duggan (Gordon Keys) and Sam Duggan (Robbie Tolhurst). They were partners and totally obsessed with fitness and tried to enrol Gordon in their hobby. They also doubled up in act two as the policemen. Fiona Finch (Jenny Thomson) another actress also appeared. Although being an actress and portraying the same, this was very good but did little to enhance the story.  

There was a lot of enjoyable humour during the evening but I found the ending rather abrupt and unexpected. The set was simple but effective. Congratulations to all involved on or off stage.

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