It is a considerable coup for The Court to be staging this delectable comedy only three years after its hugely popular staging in London and even less time since it was acclaimed in New York. To assemble the talent and teamwork critical for tackling the adapted eighteenth century hit deserves further respect, for its complexity demands serious creative application from all involved. 

Leading the way, director Ross Gumbley and musical director Luke Di Somma shape a resoundingly successful production.

The spirit of the original play lives on through devices which have never lost their charm. The original commedia dell’arte Arleccino figure is the servant in question and hectic physical comedy, improvisation and stock character types are polished up in a sixties Brighton gangster context to ravishing effect. 

There is nothing like a good predicament and the play is built from whole cornucopia of them in an ever-increasing array right from the opening scene, where small-time gangster Charlie Clench and company are celebrating his daughter Pauline’s engagement to Alan Dangle, would-be actor and poet.

The lovers’ joy is made possible because arrangements have fallen through for the union Charlie had arranged with a rival hood, Roscoe Crabbe, to whom he owes a tidy sum. Roscoe, it seems, is dead. But wait, who is this, being announced by his side-kick, a burly bloke who just seems as if he might be a first time minder…? Enter Roscoe, whippet slim and with a dangerous swagger. Look closer, for it is really his twin sister Rachel in disguise, come to collect the money owing and pining for her own lover, upper-crust Stanley Stubbers, who we’ll meet in the next scene, where he also will engage the services of the same ‘minder’ as he holes up to escape justice for killing…. who else but Roscoe Crabbe. And thus the strings operating this glorious assemblage are neatly and precisely fixed. 

The plot develops over the course of one day as the minder fella, Francis Henshall, lately part of a skiffle band but now struggling to keep fed, tries desperately to serve both employers (as well as his own appetites) while keeping them from meeting.

So it is the Harlequinesque figure of Francis whose antics drive the play, fleshing out the clues of diamond-patched floor and screen in Julian Southgate’s clever set. Its sedate eighteenth century terraces, revealing brash sixties living, glide off for the dining room of The Cricketers’ Arms where one of the funniest farcical scenes I have ever enjoyed plays out in brilliant fashion to end the first act and give the audience at least time to recover from its helpless laughter. 

The inimitable Tom Trevella fills the Francis role with precision as well as the gusto demanded by the helter-skelter pace of the piece. At his funniest when most vulnerable and transparent, he crafts a Francis who, like most of us, is just trying to keep his footing in a changeable world subject to the whim of other people.

His two ‘masters’, played by Jonathan Martin (Stanley Stubbers) and Kathleen Burns (Rachel in disguise a Roscoe Crabbe), ensure that his challenges are potently delivered and as the Clench family side of things, Roy Snow(Charlie), Georgia- Kate Heard (Pauline), Damien Avery(Alan Dangle, her true love), Phil Grieve (his barrister dad), Keith Adams (Lloyd Boateng, another shady character) and Juliet Reynolds-Midgley (Dolly, a sure touch of glamour), all present the wider context in full, rumbustious terms.

That leaves the versatile Adam Brookfield to show his splendid resourcefulness as Gareth the boss waiter, a Cab Driver and Policeman, while David Ladderman as a brilliantly geriatric Alfie has some of the funniest exits and entrances in the play. 

Full credit must be paid to the production team. This is made up of Julian Southgate for set design, as mentioned above, Stephen Robertson for richly suggestive costume design, Giles Tanner for very effective lighting design and Stephen Compton for impeccable sound design. 

The skiffle band which welcomes the audience pre-show also supports lively musical interludes which punctuate plot developments. They well deserve a warm audience reception and their zest is infectious. Chris Wethey (bass), Benjamin Eldridge (lead guitar), Cameron Douglas (vocals, guitar) and Tim Sellars (drums, washboard) embody the indefatigable spark which characterises the production. 

Put all this together and as a summer treat, the whole promises a season of pure joy.

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