UK Theatre Network

Alan Ayckbourn’s adaptation of the 1920’s Aldwych Farce by Evans and Valentine made an unusual departure, yet a very funny one, from some of the other theatre in Edinburgh at the moment.

The play concerns the trials of Aubrey Allington and his wife Louise. Aubrey, a penniless inventor, is left a fortune by his deceased brother which, on Aubrey’s death, will revert to his (thought to be dead) cousin George Maitland. Aubrey plans to stage his own death and disguise himself as Maitland, in order to avoid his creditors. Unfortunately things don’t run so smoothly.

It’s obvious from the onset of the play that it is of a certain period in time. It is difficult for farce to seem anything but antiquated compared to the style of today’s plays. This isn’t helped by Ayckbourn’s ‘adaptation’, for as he admits in the programme he did little in adapting the writing and only updated or omitted anything a more modern audience would no longer find funny or understand. As a result whilst some sections of the play are incredibly funny, others are less so and tend to use techniques such as the mimicking of other characters or pronouncing words in an unusual way, which becomes tiresome after a while.

It isn’t aided by Joe Harmston’s direction. This at times makes the play feel stilted and makes no imaginative use of the actors, the set or the script.

Despite all this the actors themselves put in a sterling job. In particular Mark Curry as Aubrey Allington, whose ability to play such a range of characters is very impressive. Also Caroline Langrishe as his wife, who puts in a very powerful performance as the woman who instigates most of the goings on throughout the play. Christopher Timothy also puts in a superb performance as the scheming butler, Sprules.

Don’t expect any high drama from this show. Just a good laugh!

Listings:

The Kings Theatre, Edinburgh

2 to 7 Nov

Tues – Sat eves 7:30pm

Wed & Sat mats 2:30pm

Tickets: £12.50 - £25

Box Office: 0131 529 6000

www.eft.co.uk

Then touring until 14 Feb