RUBERY Drama Group served up plenty of laughs at Beacon Church Centre with its production of ‘Don’t Dress For Dinner’.
The delicious offering for farce fans was the company’s first production since the start of the pandemic and a directing first for Helen Bourke and assistant Ian Kimberly-Ryan.
It centres on Bernard who is hoping to entertain Suzy for the weekend whilst his wife, Jacqueline, is visiting her mother.
He has invited his best friend, Robert, as a suitable alibi and a cordon bleu cook to furnish the gourmet delights. But – as you can imagine – it does not go to plan….
This production had everything you could want from a fantastic traditional farce – fast-paced action and comedy lines, chaotic situations and a feelgood resolution at the end.
Roy Watton is always excellent as those stressed-out, flabbergasted characters and this portrayal of Bernard was no different.
He played it perfectly and you really felt for him trying to have his fun whilst trying to deflect all the awkward situations and questions he faced.
David Healing as Robert (his alibi) was a fantastic foil for the harassed husband and their interaction and timing was a delight to watch.
Julie Edwards was great as wife Jacqueline and Vicky Routh was hilarious as entrepreneurial cook Suzette who was asked to play a variety of relationships but ensured she coined it in with extra charges each time.
Model mistress Suzanne – another asked to play a series of unexpected roles – and Chris Jones as Suzette’s husband George added to the humour in this production which generated laughs throughout and had the audience in hysterics at times.
With scenes reminiscent of those from Fawlty Towers and ‘Allo ‘Allo, this was classic quintessentially English situation comedy at its best.
With such a gap between productions, there was bound to be a bit of rust and a few prompts were needed but that did not detract from a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
Those blips will no doubt iron themselves out over the course of the remaining performances which take place at 7.30pm on Friday and Saturday, October 22 and 23.
Tickets – at £7 (£6 concessions) – are available from Ian Kimberly Ryan on 07495 876971 or on the door.
