Tom, Dick and Harry

This farce by Ray Cooney and son Michael has a plot to defeat the brain of a genius!  It starts slowly, as we are introduced to the characters - primarily, 'Tom' (Aron Cooper) and his wife, 'Linda' (Amy Pearson); Tom’s brothers, 'Dick' (Will Thompson) and 'Harry' (David Nixon); social worker, 'Mrs Potter' (Janet Beakes).  To this basic cast are added two Kosovan refugees, 'Katerina' (Emily McDonald) and 'Andreas' (Kevin Jones); an incompetent copper (John Hagger), and a Mafia boss (Gregg Finch).

We begin with Tom and Linda await a visit from Mrs Potter to see if they are fit to adopt.  The situation begins to deteriorate when Tom’s brothers, of whom Linda disapproves, enter with (i) a vanload of contraband and two refugees and (ii) a bag of body parts,  The body parts are to bury under the patio to try to bring the price of the flat down to help them become owner-occupiers and better placed to adopt.  To avoid Linda bumping into his brothers Tom sends her to the council offices to see Mrs Potter who is, actually, on her way to the house.  A dodgy tax disc (remember those) attracts the attention of the law but fortunately the copper is not bright enough to link up the contraband clearly visible in the van and the two refugees.  The gangster, who arrives wanting money from the refugees, only adds to the confusion.  Oh, and the body parts get loose.  Through all this turmoil Tom navigates his way without tipping his hand to Mrs Potter.

By the end our sympathies are firmly with Tom..  All the other characters, swirling around him, are lacking a brain cell or two apart from Linda and Mrs Potter, whom he constantly manoeuvres into the dining room to wait for Linda’s return whilst he tries to clear the house.  Aron Cooper is excellent as Tom, who apart from one or two (intentionally) feeble jokes, plays it straight throughout, Will Thompson and David Nixon are hilarious as his incompetent brothers.  Kevin Smith is particularly funny as a Kosovan grandfather who speaks only his native language.  All the cast contribute manfully to the mayhem.

As the flat gradually clears and Tom and Linda finally find themselves on their own again, with their plans somehow still intact, the audience limps from the auditorium after a thoroughly enjoyable, sometimes hysterical evening.

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