Cooney farce stands the test of time

Boundary Players: Out of Order

at the William Penney Theatre, Aldermaston

on Wednesday, February 5

Review by Chris Horton

RAY Cooney can always be relied on to provide a standard issue farce and Out of Order, performed by Boundary Players, is no exception.

The basic story: Conservative Minister Richard Willey intends to have an affair with a negligee clad Labour Party secretary, Jane, in a London hotel room.

There then follows a series of complications, the initial one being a corpse seemingly accidentally trapped in the window. Calling the police would lead to scandal, so Willey calls upon his PPS, George Pigden, to deal with the situation.

What then transpires is a convoluted story including the appearance of the secretary’s husband, Pigden’s mother’s nurse, the hotel manager, the Minister’s wife and a scheming waiter.

Steve Schollar was in fine form as the Tory minister and Clara Legallais-Mohar was a treat as the secretary. Doing a lot of the heavy lifting in this ridiculous but very funny play was Andrew Smith as George Pigden. Together with Steve Schollar he had good pace and they carried the play with great chemistry.

Tracy Maher, as ‘The Body’ showed exceptional comic physicality as she was manhandled through the various storylines including the window, a wheelchair, being dragged through a dance routine, rolling off the chaise longue and hung up in a cupboard!

With political topicality bringing forth a good level of laughs, this was a thin plot but packed full of predictable yet humorous situations.

Although slightly dated (written in 1990) with no availability to mobile phones and instant communication, the main thread of this political satire remains the same: scandal, hiding deception from spouses and the Opposition.

With an increasing number of mistaken identities and escalating mayhem Boundary Players, did justice to this piece of well-known and popular form of theatre.