The Adelaide Repertory Theatre. The Arts Theatre. 20 Nov 2014
Oh, my. Talk about a workout. Ribs, belly, streaming tears...
This is a funny, funny English farce.
It is playwrights Michael and Ray Cooney at their silliest and director Ian Rigney in his prime.
It is a South Australian premiere production and a jewel for the Rep's end of year - and to be hoped the audiences swarm in and reward the company for its good work.
The first act is funny, but it is, as in farce tradition and necessity, the set-up act wherein one gets to know the characters and the situation. So, Tom and Linda are waiting optimistically for the adoption agency's interview woman when Tom's brothers, Dick and Harry, rock up bringing with them Tom's borrowed truck, suddenly full of contraband from Calais, along with a bag full of putrid body parts and two hapless illegal immigrants who can't speak English.
Linda goes out, the brothers create havoc.
Then the comedy escalates. Tom tries to smooth things over - and the more he tries, the more he lies. The police turn up, the adoption woman arrives, the voluptuous alien girl gets the hots for Dick, the alien fellow gets drunk and plays the trumpet, the body parts just won't go away, doors open and close...
It is a good, classic farce set - conservative living room with doors, windows and a short turn staircase to enable all the entrances and exits.
By Act II, cross purposes, cover-ups, subterfuge and more cover-ups are delivered, layer upon layer in an extravaganza of split-second timing and swift footwork.
The cast is right up to the task.
The audience is almost abject with laughter.
James Edwards carries the comic responsibility in the middle of it all as Tom, doing so with a long, lean and quirky physicality in the ilk of John Cleese. He's damned hilarious and gives quite a Fawlty madness to the show.
David Salter adds a big-boned athleticism with astoundingly light footwork and gorgeous comic timing. And then there's Matt Houston as the dumber brother who parries artfully and plays prat.
Lana Adamuszek establishes an air of sweet normality as the wife, Linda in whose absence all mayhem takes place. Stanley Tuck is just right as the policeman who is not as silly as he seems, Glenn Vallen hams it up all over the place as the drunken old alien. John Koch creates a strong cameo as the evil Boris. Penni Hamilton-Smith asserts a stuffy and strident old adoption agency official while Tamara Bennetts, oh, Tamara Bennetts! With an extremely emphasised décolletage, a peasant hanky on her head and a shock of long hair, she lifts the comedy of Katerina, the perhaps
Albanian illegal, into a potent character in her own right. A delicious performance.
A delicious show.
Go.
Samela Harris
When: 20 to 29 Nov
Where: Arts Theatre
Bookings: trybooking.com
