Emma Thompson, activist and Academy Award winning actress and Executive Producer of FAIR TRADE says of the show:

'One of the best scripts I've seen in years; I'm extremely proud to be involved in this production'.

Given the subject matter, the production of FAIR TRADE by Shatterbox at Rich Mix's East End venue, before embarking on a run at this year's Edinburgh Festival, was met with a heartfelt reponse by a somewhat stunned preview audience.

It wasn't that the play was so emotionally moving - it was the rather objective way it was presented, which, ultimately, was the best way to present subject matter that was so stark and horrifyingly real, and which to date, has not been seen on stage before.

Verbatim theatre has been gaining in popularity in the last few years and is an excellent forum to present theatre as a platform for social change and never was there an area of our society that needs to be looked at more seriously than the current situation of human sex traffficking. Alive and kicking in the brothels of London and with, at a conservative estimate, involving over 5,000 trafficking victims in the UK today.

The staging was simple, which was a good choice; a 'box-like' set, symbolising the reality of imprisonment that these women are caught up in and are forced to 'work' within. The blackboard backdrop acted as a useful way of introducing the two female protagonists - the simple childlike chalking up of their names at the beginning of their journey and subsequently those names and identities being wiped away and obliterated as they are sucked into a life of prostitution in the UK by unscrupulous dealers in the sex trade. At the end they chalk up the number of nameless clients they are forced to have sex with in order to pay back the price of their slavery; and, even then, the promise of freedom and their passports home are still denied.

Anna Holbeck as Ukrainian Elena and Sarah Amankwah as Samai as the two women, whose true stories were recorded by the two founder members of Shatterbox to use as the foundation of the intial scripts for the production, offer naturalistic, sympathetic performances without over indulging in what could be overtly emotionalised victimised portrayals of the women. Instead they chart the reasons behind how and why these women got into this situation; and because of that engage us further still into how easily so many other women could against their will, be drawn into this world. But these women are indeed truly victims in a situation that is happening right now under our noses and it seems, very little is being done by the authorities to change this.

Both women, one from a poor village in the Ukraine, the other from war-torn Dafur, with no family left to live for, are brought over to the UK with promises of work and a future, by unscrupulous characters. The fact that one of the traffickers, Sophia (Adele Lynch) , is a woman, rankles even more. It is her who brings Elena over to London and ensares her with even more callousness than her male counterparts, because, as she states 'it happened to her'.

What hits home most is something Elena says - ' how many more women will they bring over for the Olympics in London in 2012'. It is the statement of the production and makes you sit up and realise that this is now, it is current and it is ongoing.

This is more than a 'play' - it's a cry for help. It's a plea to us all to get involved in the many organisations already connected to the production to raise awareness, to spread the word, to force the authorities to act, to put pressure on the police to raid the brothels, to seek out the dealers, to put a stop to the fastest growing international crime. Sex trafficking is here right now. It's victims are mainly young, vulnerable, disenfranchised women looking for a new life in the UK and other wealthy European countries. Most of them are lured over with a promise of finding work; a way to earn a living to help their families back home and then consequently led unknowingly into a living hell of 'working' up to 12 hours a day, with up to 40 'clients' a day. There is no 'glamour' in the sex industry. It is exploitation - pure and simple, and the sooner we act and the sooner the authorities intervene is not soon enough.

'It is very rare you can escape from the pimps, very difficult you know. You can't. The days you just have to work, you can't get away from them. You just want to kill yourself'. Albanian survivor of Sex Trafficking.

Go and see this show. Theatre is one of the only ways at times in which situations like this can be brought to the fore and because of that and because we as human beings should and need to be awakened to what is happening in this underground world, makes this not just another production of a worthy cause. Human trafficking is the second largest illegal trade in the world. If enough public pressure is placed on the authorities and if enough of us cared to get involved, then there is still hope for these modern day 'slaves' of our society to be freed from a living hell.

FAIR TRADE

Edinburgh Festival

Pleasance King DomeTheatre

Aug 4 - 30th 2010

15.30

Running time: 1 hr (no interval)

For further information contact:

Sarah Crompton, Producer

www.shatterbox.co.uk

Other organisations:

www.helenbamber.org.uk

www.stopthetraffik.org

www.atalliance.org.uk

www.unseenuk.org

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PAY AS YOU GO                              COCK TAVERN THEATRE

The Cock Tavern Theatre boldly continues with it’s policy of showcasing new writing talent with Steven Hevey’s play Pay As You Go.

Set in modern day Southend-on-Sea, Mark and his colleagues work in a mobile phone shop where scripted-selling, blokish banter, and sexual competitiveness dominates. With the exception of Tom a teenage employee, the other male workers are heading towards middle-age but persist with their laddish behaviour. Mark is tiring of this, has problems at home and is heading towards an emotional meltdown.

Hevey’s dialogue is strong and naturalistic, and the play ably takes on the theme of mis-communication - despite technology being designed to improve this. Face to face conversations are often blocked with constant text and call interruptions, and the mobile phone takes on a menacing persona through happy-slapping.

It is only towards the end of the drama that it seems to lose it’s way and feels more like a work in progress. There are lots of little scenes that that add little to the plot, and key themes are not fully developed. These however are small shortcomings to what is essentially a good piece.

Structurally the play could also have done with an interval. And this is not just because after an hour and a half in the hot and airless space of the auditorium, it became decidedly uncomfortable.

Samuel Miller’s direction is focused, and there are strong performances by Marc Geoffrey, Daniel Jennings and Richard Aloi, as the key players running the shop.

It is good to see Good Night Out Productions supporting new writers and directors, and as result maintaining it’s lead in producing some of the best innovative quality work on the London fringe.

OLIVER VALENTINE   

                                                        Pay As You runs until 14^th August.

There was once a deep green paradise full of animals and birds and trees dripping with fruit and it was called Doggerland.

10,000 years ago, at the height of the last Ice Age, Doggerland was a vast plain that stretched from the east coast of Britain to the coasts of The Netherlands, Denmark and North Germany. The so-called land-bridge was a place where people settled as the ice-sheets wasted and northwestern Europe became habitable once more. But, as the ice-sheets retreated further and sea levels rose, the North Sea encroached on the land, eventually separating the British Peninsula from the mainland. In her latest play Debbie Kent who wrote the impressive Bacchaefull, a site-specific adaption of Euripides’ The Bacchae, explores the myth of Doggerland and Celtic mythology.

Three generations of women dwell in a run-down B&B in a dreary seaside town: the elderly and seemingly frail Nan, the middle-aged Bet whose hands are rubbed raw from washing other people’s clothes and the sexy young Rosie who works in a strip club and is the provider of the family. Nan’s and Bet’s rather uneventful lives are only interrupted by Rosie’s occasional visits. One day she arrives with her new boyfriend Jonny who is on the run, it is not clear from whom. Rosie is planning to hide him in Nan’s house but Nan does not appreciate male tenants after her last lodger ended up biting the hand that fed him. 

The most fascinating aspect of this play is that it starts out as a domestic drama and then takes a completely different turn. Doggerland is a comic tragedy with touches of Pinter set in the aftermath of Armageddon. The three female characters bring to life the Morrigan, a tripartite Irish goddess of war, fate and fertility who decides who lives and dies on the battlefield. Each woman represents one aspect of the Morrigan.

Georgina Sowerby is impressive as the nurturing Bet who seems resigned to her fate as a carer feeding Rosie’s foundling rabbits and giving Nan foot massages. Jean Apps is fascinating when changing from the seemingly helpless Nan to a warlike creature. There are also good performances by Sophie Walton as Rosie and Scott Hinds as Jonny. The claustrophic and unsettling production is aptly directed by Neil Smith.     

Barons Court Theatre, 28a Comeragh Road, Barons Court, London, W14 9HR

Until 1st August 2010, 7.30 pm
Tickets: £12 (concessions £10)

Box Office: 020 8932 4747

MOVE OVER ABBEY THEATRE. PACINO’S SUPPER CLUB HAS ARRIVED!!

What’s a supper club and where is Pacino’s I here you ask!? A supper club is the latest brain child of Paul Ryan where we can all go to dine & wine while watching theatre. Doesn’t that sound brilliant? Well it is! Pacino’s is a stunning little Italian restaurant on Suffolk Street, Dublin 2 (To the right of Molly Malone’s’ wheel barrow). The staff are friendly, the food is ridiculously cheap and the wine is delicious. Pacino’s proprietor is a splendid young man, Mick Martin and the supper club is on every Thursday at 10pm. There is an admission charge of €10 on the door which goes straight into the actor’s pockets. http://www.pacinos.ie/

On arriving into the venue I was ushered by a gentleman to the bar where I chose a glass of house red merlot. Please try it because it was sensational. As the place crowded up and everyone was greeted and seated we had a look at the menu. For a measly €20 you get a selection of any two Tapas or a large delicious Italian pizza with 2 glasses of wine. No wonder they advertise the night as “unscene”! The tapas where delicious and I tried a slice or two of some handsome devils Pizza and it was truly gorgeous.

A young lady came on the microphone and introduced the fire exists and explained that we would see five, 10 minute plays with 10 minute intervals in between for us to chit chat and the likes. The set up of the restaurant was perfect for this night. There are lots of high seated stools with tables and bar seating which all face a stage which I’m sure they use as an area for dinning during the day. The restaurant it quaint with stone brick interior, soft dim lighting and an exquisite Italian feel.

As the first act came on we are introduced to a hilarious scene of two ladies who are dinning and confessing their thoughts which have the audience in barrels of laughter, particularly at all the characters performed so hilariously by Actor Rebecca McGurrell who you can’t help but love and laugh out load or hysterically to yourself. As the 5 acts are performed they get better and better particularly in the 4th act where Johnny Williamson will stun you with his character of an actors agent about to sign an actor. The level of acting demonstrated by Johnny Williamson is second to none as he performs very different characters throughout the night with his excellent American accents and ground breaking performances. Every week we can expect to see different acts so it’s worth getting down to see this guy before he’s gone or snapped up by Hollywood.

The true star of the night however was the concept itself. Everyone seemed to like the new buzz of theatre while dinning and everyone is right. It is the first time something like this has been introduced on the Dublin scene and it’s about time. There is a buzz amongst the art and actor types of Dublin about this new concept and I predict a whole new array of these supper clubs popping up everywhere, where the talented actors, writers and director of Dublin strut their stuff. I personally am looking forward to being entertained while dining, particularly with menus as cheap as Pacino’s.

When your finished eating and watching the theatre you can go down stairs where they provide live music or a dj until some made hour!

Paul Ryan mentioned to us last night that there is a group on Facebook called “Entertaining Dublin” where he urges all entertainment industry professionals to get involved so they can get up and perform to the wonderful audience of Pacino’s on a Thursday night. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=145973135417036&ref=ts 

Date: Every Thursday Night

Time: 10pm

Location: 18 Suffolk Street, Dublin 2, Ireland

Admission: €10

Booking Line: 01 677 5651

Website: http://www.pacinos.ie/

Marti Stewart

UK Theatre Network

Interview

Actor Johnny Williamson was kind enough to do a short and sweet interview with UK Theatre Network, sponsored by the UK Theatre Network, here’s how it went:

UK Theatre Network: Johnny, captivating performance there, I see tonight the production company performing are Company D. How did the company come about and how did you get involved:

Johnny: Well a guy called Dave is the director along with Rebecca there who spoke on the microphone earlier. They started up the production company who is performing tonight and I met Dave along the way in acting classes and he asked me to be a part of it.

UK Theatre Network: How did you chose the pieces to perform tonight, did someone write them, and if so who?

Johnny: well actually we just took little scenes out of plays that are already written by excellent playwrights and performed them.

UK Theatre Network: How long where you in rehearsals for?

Johnny: about 3 weeks

UK Theatre Network: Which is your favorite character to perform amongst the 4 scenes you play?

Johnny: Oh definitely the actors agent. He’s a great one to play and just takes over.

UK Theatre Network: Yes, he seems ready to go, you could make a movie on him alone!

Johnny Williamson is originally from Tipperary, he travelled around the states studying acting and returned to Dublin in 2008. He is currently represented by Julian Benson.

Quartet at Richmond Theatre
 

Published by: Tremayne

The opening scene introduces us to three of the four characters.  Cissy (Gwen Taylor) is sat on the sofa, in what we later establish is the dayroom of a residential home. She is listening to Rigoletto on her discman, all the while Wilf (Timothy West) and Reg (Edward Hardwicke) are coming out with sexually fuelled language. That is right up to the point where Cissy  removes her headphones. Having been  under a trance-type state by the music, she  breathes “I’m ready!” out loud, almost as if she had been following the two men’s conversation.

A subtle contrast is made between Sadness and Comedy when we are introduced to the fourth character, Jean (Susannah York), Reg’s ex-wife. We learn she had been admitted to the home through charitable aid, having once been a much respected opera singer.

Reg gets his own back on his ex-wife when he turns up unexpectedly. He reminds her of the time when he shared with her father that they were splitting up and his father’s response was: “Sorry old chap but count your blessings, I’m married to her mother!”

I loved Reg’s philosophy on Art.  You might argue the writer used it like a tool to  steal back the scene after he has pulled a face full of disgust through the window at the nurse who had not allowed him his one luxury at breakfast time, marmalade.  She had  forced him to have apricot jam instead, knowing how much he detested it.

The residents are to become part of a musical gala and the four main, and only characters of the play, are to form a quartet and sing Puccini’s – Rigoletto, which they had once sung together professionally.  Jean’s initial reaction is: “democracy is nothing to do with art!, at which the interval curtain falls.

“We’re artists, we’re meant to celebrate life”, Reg remarks in Act II to Jean who appears cautious to get involved in the gala for fear of how it might effect or tarnish her career.  We come to learn the real reason for this later.

The scene dressers are cleverly disguised as doctors in their white coats, making them a part of the story.  This made a change from the usual black we normally see.

We then cut to the ladies dressing room.

“every great artist is nervous before their performance.  It’s their respect to the audience”, Jean reassures Cissy who is suffering from stage fright.

As an audience, we see that, despite the ageing process, women can still remain girlie girls who continue to discuss men and their sexual encounters.  And why not?!  Why should we assume that the older generation talk only of God and Death?!

We then move across to the men’s changing rooms where Wilf reads out the following quote, “Art is meaningless if it doesn’t make you feel”.  He has  found it on a scrap piece of paper screwed up into a small ball and stuffed inside the sock which he will stuff down his trousers to enhance his manhood.

The production is brought to a finale with the quartet being played out to us,  allowing the idea of the fourth wall to shine through.  Timothy West lip syncs to the background music particularly well, as do Susannah York and Gwen Taylor.

All-in-all an insightful look into the mind of an OAP!

Every day I start out Mary Poppins but I end up Cruella DeVil!

Having begun life in Canada in the 1990s this evergreen show about five formerly professional women who find themselves at home with children has now arrived at Richmond Theatre after playing nine UK tours. The award-winning play was written by six women – formerly professional actors – who had endured the woes and joy of parenting and decided to share their experiences in a show about motherhood.  

The play cleverly reveals the agony and ecstasy of parenting as the audience is whooping and clapping with recognition. It deals with all the important elements of raising a child including every mum’s daily immersion in „bathwater, food, spit, snot, blood, vomit, urine and faeces.“ The five actresses - Gillian Taylforth of Eastenders, Tracy Shaw and Sally Ann Matthews of Coronation Street fame, Susie Fenwick, and Mandy Holliday – represent almost every aspect of motherhood. In a group counselling session complete with phony blue sky and green meadows in the background they recount their experiences in monologues whilst the rest of the cast listen attentively as members of the giant club of mums!

Gillian Taylforth impresses with a very vivid re-enactment of the birth of Robin’s first child and captures Robin’s wry bitterness beautifully as she keeps writing letters to her partner / husband describing her uneventful days as a full-time mum. Mandy Holliday’s „shit management“ sequence is hilarious as she finds herself submerged by a „brown tidal wave“ and later runs after her child in naked panic at a public swimming pool. Tracy Shaw’s artistically inclined Jill bemoans in a very funny scene that half of her brain was washed away with her placenta and the other half leaked out of her nipples - but her mind must be somewhere! Sally Ann Matthews’s account of the life and death struggle of her prematurely born son Ben sharply contrasts with the farcical elements of the show. Susie Fenwick’s character, the insecure Deborah, laments with cut-class diction that she has to make 10,000 decisions a day and each single one of them might lead her child to a life of serial killing, organized crime or worse - to becoming an estate agent.    

The show runs until 24 July 2010 at the Richmond Theatre and will then go on to Cheltenham.

Richmond Theatre,The Green, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 1QJ
http://www.ambassadortickets.com/1741/659/Richmond/Richmond-Theatre/Mums-the-Word

SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE

A good  rogering to be had  by all!

Roger Allam plays Falstaff in the Globe premiere of

Henry IV Part 2

Part 2: 3 July – 3 October

Published by: Tremayne

Henry IV Parts 1 and 2:       Part 1: 6 June – 2 October

Part 2: 3 July – 3 October

Artistic Director, Dominic Dromgoole, is in his fifth season at the

Shakespeare’s Globe.

The full cast: Roger Allam, Jason Baughan, Patrick Brennan, Daon Broni, Phil Cheadle, Oliver Coopersmith, Oliver Cotton, Sam Crane, William Gaunt, Christopher Godwin, Sean Kerns, James Lainey, Danny Lee Wynter, Kevork Malikyan, Barbara Marten, Jamie Parker, Paul Rider, Lorna Stuart, Joseph Timms, Jade Williams.

Director: Dominic Dromgoole.

Designer: Jonathan Fensom.

Composer: Claire van Kampen.

Roger Allam (Falstaff) graces us once more with his presence in Part II of Henry IV but, this time around, is even more playful, with an obvious put-on heightened RP accent, intending to mock.

As a writer, and an inquisitive one at that, whenever I observe a play I look closely at the writing and look at whether or not it has been served well, its actors having played their roles truthfully and wholeheartedly.  Personally. I would say that Allam is such an actor but not all the actors in this production were.

There is a point in the production where one of the mistresses pukes onto the stage after undoubtedly having had a heavy session the night before.  Except for the second time her aim is far from perfect. She ends up missing the bucket and the remnants spray onto an audience member, much to the excitement of the other onlookers.

Alam manages to keep up the humorous mode, peeing into a bedpan as he approaches the stage.  I give an inward sigh as, up to this point, Part II has been rather monotonous in the delivery of its speeches.

Kevork Malikyan from channel 4 The Inbetweeners fame, who plays Sir John Coleville in Part II, shows great promise and has a certain presence on stage.

Paul Rider’s interpretation of the Archbishop of York is priceless in the scene where he admits to having consumed too much alcohol at supper.  This is made apparent when he struggles for the words to roll off his tongue.

In summary, I felt  some of the characters played in Part II were a lot stronger, as well as much more camp. Sam Crane (Pistol) pulls this off with finesse.

Neither Part of Henry IV is better than the other. My only suggestion would be, where possible, to try to see each part back-to-back as I was lucky enough to do, or with little gap in between.  After watching Part I, I assure you, you will be gagging for more!

Inside Job

Darlington Civic Theatre

Brian Clemens, perhaps best known as the creator of cult classic The Avengers, Bergerac, The Professionals and Bugs, is the author responsible for penning this latest thriller to be presented by theatre impresario Ian Dickens.

Set on the Costa Del Crime, in a remote Spanish villa a mile or so outside Marbella, the plot revolves around the ludicrously named Dutch Holland (Matt Healy). Enjoying a hedonistic life in the sun, under the alias of ‘Larry’, he encounters the stunning Suzy (Michelle Morris), a femme-fatale who makes him an offer he finds impossible to refuse . . . until he later meets her violent, alcoholic husband Alex (Christopher Villiers), who presents an even more tempting proposition.

Ostensibly, Inside Job is a typical stage thriller, complete with dodgy deals, despicable double-crosses and double-bluffs aplenty. What could have been a tense and taught three-hander degenerated somewhat into something of a comedy due, for the most part to some rather stagey over-acting.

Matt Healy’s crook, on the run from Interpol, started off charismatically enough but his tendency to over-exaggerate every gesture, movement and facial expression resulted in his character becoming more of a caricature.

Christopher Villiers’s portrayal of Alex made the character seem as camp as a row of fluorescent pink tents, whilst Michelle Morris, as Suzy, failed to compellingly convince as a woman who is the lust object of many a male desire.

The true star of this production was the set. The Mediterranean converted farmhouse, with its conservatory-style furniture and focal-point chimney breast, evoked a real sense of place. Although the programme notes do not credit a specific ‘set designer’, I can only make an educated guess that it is ‘technical director’ David North who should be applauded.

On the whole, the production is an enjoyable affair that could be transformed into something far more special if the director, Giles Watling, instructed his actors to bring their performances down a little. Nevertheless, Inside Job will undoubtedly appeal to all those theatre-going amateur sleuths out there.

Runs until Saturday 24^th July 2010.

SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE

A good  rogering to be had  by all!

Roger Allam plays Falstaff in the Globe premiere of

Henry IV Part 1

Part 1: 6 June – 2 October

Published by: Tremayne

Roger Allam, a firm RSC and National Theatre actor, takes on the role of Falstaff in the Globe’s Premiere of Henry IV Parts 1 and 2.

Part 1: 6 June – 2 October

Part 2: 3 July – 3 October

Artistic Director, Dominic Dromgoole, is in his fifth season at the

Shakespeare’s Globe.

The full cast: Roger Allam, Jason Baughan, Patrick Brennan, Daon Broni, Phil Cheadle, Oliver Coopersmith, Oliver Cotton, Sam Crane, William Gaunt, Christopher Godwin, Sean Kerns, James Lainey, Danny Lee Wynter, Kevork Malikyan, Barbara Marten, Jamie Parker, Paul Rider, Lorna Stuart, Joseph Timms, Jade Williams.

Director: Dominic Dromgoole.

Designer: Jonathan Fensom.

Composer: Claire van Kampen.

An ostentatious display opens Henry IV Part I as the actors make good use of the playing space. I find this is often the case with performances I have seen  at the Globe. They smoothly weave themselves amongst the audience and into the main area of the stage, all the time cleverly allowing  people to take up their seats.

The historical portrayals can prove to be quite confusing and it is when you see them  performed that they begin to make sense.  The backstory to Henry IV Parts Iand II is in Shakespeare;s Richard II. Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, later Henry IV, forces the abdication of King Richard with the support of the powerful Percy family, the Earls of Northumberland and Worcester.  Richard is subsequently murdered. At the end of the play, Henry promises to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land’.

Roger Allam, who plays Sir John Falstaff,  reminds me of a cross between Oliver Reed and Brian Blessed, with his continual strong presence immediately setting us at ease.  A quality actor who is not set off course when the heavens open  wide but,  instead, takes it onboard as his given set of circumstances..  As the heavy downpour  envelops us, he gives a quick glance, a glimmer of reality appears on his face as if  to say, ‘can you believe this!’, which goes down a storm, quite literally!

The performance he gives is very different from the one given by Michael Gambon in the 2005 version of Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. that was put on at The National Theatre, and I question whether or not I  preferred  Allam’s interpretation instead.

Jamie Parker is a delight to watch as Prince Hal and makes smooth transitions through the different changes in mood of his character.

Finally, Kevork Malikyan  plays multiple roles but  stood out for me the most as the Servant.  He is, of course, instantly recognisable to many from the hit Channel 4 sitcom, The Inbetweeners.  Notably a natural mover, he shows this  in a dance-up which occurs at the brewery.

And when the back-drop curtain falls behind Roger Allam as he exits the stage at the end of Part I, I felt truly uplifted and thrilled .  A thoroughly capitivating performance by Roger Allam.

Booking: Phone 020 7401 9919 or 020 7087 7398

In person: Mon-Sat 10 am – 6 pm (8 pm on performance days).

Sundays 10 am – 5 pm ( 7 pm on performance days.)

On-line: www.shakespeares-globe.org

Tickets: £5 - £35.00

Keeping Up Appearances

Darlington Civic Theatre

Staging a theatre production of Roy Clarke’s classic television sit-com, Keeping Up Appearances, is an ambitious undertaking. Already our theatres have been swamped with a plethora of such shows, including Dinnerladies, Dad’s Army, Porridge, ’Allo, ’Allo and Last of the Summer Wine, and one wonders how long this appetite for gems of the small screen transferring to the stage will last.

Yet, The Comedy Theatre Company’s production has a lot going for it. Firstly, the original writer, Roy Clarke, has written an entirely new script especially for the stage. This is a big advantage over many of the others, which are merely four half-hour episodes performed in succession. Secondly, a stellar cast has been assembled and the characterisations are as near as you could possibly hope to get. Indeed, there are no weak links to be found in this production.

Rachel Bell has the daunting task of stepping into the shoes of Patricia Routledge as the social-climbing supersnob Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouquet, if you don’t mind!). From the instant she appears, from the rear of the stalls, she nails the part and has the audience in the palm of her hand.

Former ’Allo, ’Allo star Kim Hartman is superb as nervy next-door-neighbour Elizabeth and Brookside’s Steven Pinder is a suitably highly-strung Emmet. Gareth Hale only needs to shuffle onto the stage, as Onslow, to generate laughter, whilst Christine Moore is great as the slovenly Daisy. Debbie Arnold completes the line-up of principal characters as the lascivious Rose. Her performance should, perhaps, carry a government health warning as I’m sure she had an extraordinary effect on the blood pressure of more than a few men in the audience.

Two new characters appear in the play – Mr Milson (David Janson), a computer geek and plaything for Rose, and Mrs Debden (Sarah Whitlock), the formidable chair of the local charity committee.

Fans of the original television series will not be disappointed by this hugely enjoyable production, And for that matter, neither will anyone else.

Steve Burbridge.

Runs until Saturday 17^th July 2010.