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Grand Theatre,Wolverhampton

****

FARCE has moved on since those old Whitehall days of trousers falling down and actors darting in and out of multiple doors on stage.

This new comedy, written and directed by Ian Ogilvy, star of Return of the Saint, has a more modern slant with funeral director Brian Flowers and his wife, Susan, arriving from their Wimbledon home at a Marbella villa in an exchange holiday scheme.

What they didn’t know was that the Spanish property belongs to a British gangster, bodies start to pile up in some hilarious situations as the hapless couple and brother-in-law Jeremy feel the heat.

Just to ensure no-one in the audience takes it all too seriously there is a panel about farce in the official programme explaining that it is a form of comedy aiming to entertain through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant and thus, improbable. Spot on.

David Callister, of The Bill fame, slots perfectly into the role of bumbling Brian, with Freya Copeland (Emmerdale) impressive as his wife, particularly in an early scene where she gets to grips with the first of half a dozen bodies that will appear by the time a very clever shoot-out has bullets flying everywhere.

Some very good comedy spots, too, from Patric Kearns (Jeremy) and Louisa Lytton, the attractive gun-toting Coral.

A show that’s dead funny, if you don’t take it seriously, runs to 02-07-16

Paul Marston

28-06-16 

 

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