Don’t Dress For Dinner

How do you freshen up a classic French sex farce? By deciding to take farce, and then satirise it, almost to the point of deconstructing it. To pull this off takes expert timing. The intricate script, by Marc Camoletti is as convoluted as you can get, and the cast deliver it at breakneck speed. But then they hold pauses, and hold them, to build the awkwardness and thus the laughs. It’s like watching a high-wire act. The cast take risks and some downright liberties especially Ben Roddy and Damian Williams who ad lib and break the fourth wall, like pantomime knockabout men.

Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne, 21 July 2016
Rating:
Martin Baron