Joking Apart - Review 2

Reading Chronicle Review
By Barrie Theobald

Unmarried Richard (Brooks Livermore) and Anthea (Cal Jaggers) are the perfect couple. He never puts a foot wrong in his professional life and she is renowned for her generosity and organisational skills. Those qualities, however, have far-reaching effects on their immediate friends and neighbours.
Brian (Paul Chesterton) took Anthea and her family into his flat  after her first marriage failed and, despite a series of unsuitable girlfriends over the years, never shook off his unrequited love for her.
Business partner Sven (Nick Wilton) becomes increasingly depressed at Richard's success, his wife Olive (hilariously portrayed by Lynette McMorrough) bemoans her increasing girth compared to Anthea's ever-youthful figure, while in the next door vicarage Hugh (Harry Gostelow) and Louise (Catherine Skinner), become despondent over the behaviour of their difficult son.
Things finally come to a head on daughter Debbie's (Anna Doolan) 18th birthday. This is one of Alan Ayckbourn's lighter comedies and director  Sally Hughes ensured all the bitter-sweet humour was clearly portrayed by her well-chosen cast.

This has not been edited - Lynette really was the only one to get a proper mention, not just a character description!

Joking Apart - Review

The Stage
Published Monday 7 March 2011 at 10:35 by Sheila Tracy

“When you’ve got friends and neighbours, the world is a wonderful place”, according to the fifties hit song, a theory debunked some 20 years later by Alan Ayckbourn in Joking Apart.The question being - is making friends with neighbours who may be a great deal wealthier than you, a wise move?

It’s open house at Richard’s and Anthea’s estate and nobody is complaining. Brooks Livermore and Cal Jaggers play the happy couple with an endless supply of bonhomie who are ready to hobnob with the vicar. Harry Gostelow gives a memorable performance as the welcoming parish priest, saddled with a whining wife, played almost too realistically by Catherine Skinner and I found myself wishing all three wives would drop their voices an octave. However, Lynette McMorrough is completely in character as the mollycoddling wife of Sven, a delightful performance from Nick Wilton as Finland’s former junior tennis champion, who warns the others of the dangers of becoming too friendly with the likes of Richard and Anthea.

Which brings us to Michael Holt’s set, a garden complete with tennis court, admittedly only one end, but a remarkable achievement on a stage of this size. And yes, we do get to see the podgy Sven serving and returning the ball.

Paul Chesterton plays Brian, the friend and business partner of the owners of the estate, and a special mention of Anna Doolan who plays his three very different girlfriends and the daughter of the house with considerable expertise.