The rude-imentary plot concerns Frances who’s sent off for some mail-order Scandiavian glassware, only to discover that she’s unwittingly subscribed to a supplier of illicit pornography. This is on the heels of her new mother-in-law arriving to impose herself on their post-honeymoon lives for an indefinite period. 

What ensues is much flustered hiding of said contraband in panic, much double-taking and embarrassed concocting of increasingly implausible white lies in panic, and much manic jumping in and out of many doors in panic – in short, all the hallmarks of vintage 70s sex comedy by the inimitably repressed British middle class.

The actors are essentially well cast, though they present a mixed bag of skill levels.  As the leading newlywed couple Peter and Frances, Mark Harrison and Stacey Musham-Bolt are pretty much the ticket.  Musham Bolt’s Frances is a sweet and cheeky, at the same time devoted, wife and partially liberated post sixties young woman.  Harrison’s frantic browbeaten Peter shows some faintly Fawlty-esque ability with exasperated panic.

The most eccentric, erratic and excruciating turn is that of Garrick Burn as hapless twat Brian Runcibles, main slapstick component and the patsy of the piece.  Burns’s manic energy is high and his schtick gets a favourable response from the crowd, however his performance generally is the most unprofessionally self-indulgent in the cast.

The older contingent – Anita Marshall as Peter’s mother Eleanor and Grahame Collecut as his boss Leslie – weigh in with competent if not greatly enthralling performances.  Patrick Hales’ cockney Superintendent Paul is similarly perfunctory, while Ian Fenwick’s classic city gent, the banking inspector Arnold Needham, inhabits his character very believably, down to the Union Jack socks. 

In the second act we meet a couple of call girls in the guise of Susan (Katie Evans), a saucily multi-talented dresser (nurse, naughty maid, schoolgirl etc), and cult favourite Barbara (Rachel Fromont) in a black leather dominatrix outfit, who communicates mainly with aggressive growls and gestures.  The presence of some genuinely raunchy vamp action in the piece helps to offset the production’s overall shortcomings.

I suppose the gimmick of having a different guest actor play the flamboyantly camp delivery man each night gives a number of chaps the chance to indulge their own repressed fetishistic fantasies, but that’s aside from the rest of the play.

Were it an amateur group doing it for love, I could more easily commend energetic efforts of the troupe.  From a a professional outfit, however, there is an expected level of production values which is not met. The first noticeable example is the set.  It’s dimensions and style, as designed by directors Bruce Stewart and Adey Ramsel, seem appropriate, but the overall construction is shoddy at best, with cracks and wonky edges all over the place.

Artistic director Ramsel’s programme notes tell us that "unfortunately today, farce seems to have gone the same way as panto – good memories, but the ability to make it work now shared by a mere few."  Agreed.  To pull off this brand of high-impact lowbrow period sex-farce takes a lot of polish, ironically enough.  Characterisation must really be indelible and comic timing precise.  Unfortunately this production is rather inconsistent on these scores also. 

Perhaps another week or two’s renovation and rehearsal would help, and if so I would hope Caught Jesters Theatre Co. will factor such a requirement in to any future project as ambitious as this. 

Despite the distinct community-theatre feel, the fact is this is the first professional New Zealand mounting (snigger) of the world’s longest running comedy.  I suppose that means a lot of people have seen it before, but I never had and was curious to see what a world’s longest running comedy would be like.  The safest conclusion having seen it now is that the most successful example of anything is at least as much arbitrary as anything else.  The majority of the opening night audience seemed well entertained in any case, with much laughing and hooting at each relentless innuendo.
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