Bedroom Farce

Maggie Tagney in Bedroom Farce at Keswick Theatre

ANYONE who needs cheering up during these days of economic gloom should pop into Keswick Theatre.
Bedroom Farce is just one of the plays running at the theatre by the lake during their summer season and it’s guaranteed to make you forget about stocks, shares, the inflation index or quantative easing!
Instead you’ll be lost in a world where the Bedroom Index, Angst Count and Giggle-ometer are all you need to worry about.
Alan Ayckbourn’s farce is in the safe hands of Stefan Escreet and a talented cast. It’s a bit more considered than many English farces – this is a humorous but sometimes astute look at that most ghastly, hideous and comic world: Relationships.
Sex, of course, rears it’s ugly head but only to generate yet more laughs. For Delia (Maggie Tagney) and Ernest (Stephen Aintree), sex is only a happy memory – supplanted instead by a midnight treat of sardines on toast or hot cocoa. But while this older couple provide a calmer and dispassionate view of the chaos on stage, it’s their son Trevor (Chris Hannon) who is the centre of the storm.
He has destroyed the relationship with his psychosis-laden wife Susannah (Louise Yates) and now seems determined to destroy all those around him.
First in his sights are Malcolm (George Banks) and Kate (Jessica Ellis) who are holding a house-warming party. The lovey-dovey couple are soon reduced to screaming demons with only broken furniture left in their wake.
Trevor, of course, is blissfully unaware of the harm he’s doing and moves swiftly on to Jan (Zoe Mills) and Nick (Adrian Metcalfe). Nick manages to get some of the best laughs of the evening despite playing the role of someone stuck in bed all night with a bad back.
The performance got off to a slow start but by the second half the laughs were coming thick and fast. The play was written in 1975 and is set in the 70s – complete with garish wallpaper and haircuts. To be fair the humour seemed dated at times and I was left feeling some of the scenes needed as much a makeover as most of the bedrooms. 
But this certainly had plenty of good moments and an overall feel-good factor that will make for a super summer evening out.
Bedroom Farce is at Theatre by the Lake, Keswick until November 7. Box office: 017687 74411. Website: www.theatrebythelake.co.uk.