Don’t Dress for Dinner

Farnworth Little Theatre

Until Saturday

BERNARD has invited Suzanne, his gorgeous Parisian mistress, to his home for the weekend while his wife is away; he’s invited his best friend Robert along as an alibi, his wife decides not to go away and with a feast from chef Suzette what could possibly go wrong?

‘Don’t Dress for Dinner’ has all the usual ingredients of a farce; misunderstandings, mistaken identity, infidelity, compromised innocent parties and plenty of doors.

Director Dave Eyre and the production team have delivered a first-class production and the cast showed the audience just how a good farce should be.

Maintaining a good pace throughout, the cast kept us on our toes as we followed the twists and turns and the sillier the plot became, the funnier it got.

Ian Taylor was excellent as the scheming Bernard, who went from calm and collected to despair and panic as the chaos developed around him. Robin Thompson as Robert was superb, the subtle pauses as the audience reacted to the chaos was brilliant which made for some very awkward but hilarious situations. They both worked extremely well together and their exchanges and comedy timing were spot on.

Joyce Smith was on top form as Jacqueline and went from carefree to extreme jealousy, bordering on the verge of murderous when the plot started to unfold. Alison Whittaker gave a delightful, glamorous portrayal as Robert’s mistress, Suzanne. The scene when the two women sit side by side on the sofa planning revenge on Bernard, with Jacqueline unaware that Suzanne is her husband’s mistress was brilliant. Great work from them both.

Lisa Barlow gave some excellent well-timed comedy pieces as Suzette the cook. Her demands for money each time she was asked by Robert and Bernard to do something else that wasn’t in her remit was brilliant. Rick Sykes as Suzette’s over protective husband George was good too and brought even more chaos to the plot.

Farce is one of the hardest genres to get right but this production had it in all areas, perfect cast, spot on direction, great costumes and set which make the perfect ingredients.

Runs until Saturday

Jason Crompton

12/11/19