1 November 2011

Please note: this news article is in our archive. Articles were correct at time of publication, but should not be relied on for accuracy after the passage of time.

THE ACE Theatre Company has found a solid niche at Chequer Mead with productions which amuse rather than inform, and if the chortling of their audience for Habeas Corpus last week was anything to judge by, they fulfilled their modest brief to everyone’s entire satisfaction.

Alan Bennett’s play is a farce which explores that most British of preoccupations, sex – who wants it, who’s getting it, and whose sexual peccadilloes are going to land them in some very hot water indeed.

But if its trousers-down portrait of middle-class angst was entirely traditional, Bennett’s script is a quirky mixture of philosophy, insight and occasional rhyming couplets which raise it out of strictly Brian Rix territory to achieve a certain poignant compassion for the human condition.

Set in the sixties, just as the Permissive Society was getting into full swing, the action of the play is narrated by charlady and all-seeing Every Woman Mrs Swabb, delightfully played by Christine White whose comic asides were a highlight of the show.

Mike Baker gave an accomplished performance as Dr Arthur Wicksteed, playing the Hove GP whose wandering hands threaten to imperil his career with a roguish charm which went a long way to redeeming his indiscriminate lechery.

As his neglected wife Muriel, Lynne Fallowell displayed hidden fire when faced with the attentions of Steve Gray as Mr Shanks, a travelling salesman of false breasts.

There are few men who can retain their dignity when trouserless upon the public stage and to the delight of his audience, Steve was not one of them.

Small-but-perfectly-formed Peter Jones as vertically challenged Sir Percy Shorter may not have bestrode the stage like a Colossus, but he was nevertheless terrific as a lovelorn lecher. And Robert Mitchell put in a lovely performance as his frustrated love rival Canon Throbbing.

Carrie Hazeel won well-deserved applause as Constance Wicksteed, the spinster whose life is transformed by the acquisition of a pair of false mammaries.

While Kath Lunn had some great laugh-out-loud one-liners as the snobbish Lady Rumpers whose past eventually catches up with her.

Tanis Everest and Jay Rolfe both put in lovely performances as the ill-suited young lovers, and Colin White was terrific as the depressed Mr Purdue, whose repeated attempts at suicide punctuated the action to the huge amusement of the audience and the utter indifference of his fellow players.

A hugely enjoyable evening which had sent the audience out to the car park laughing.