The Ale House at the St Helens Theatre Royal Review
The Ale House
Theatre Royal, St Helens
6-10 October 2015
Reviewed by Linzi Davies
On Wednesday night myself and my friend headed over to sunny St Helens to watch the comedy The Ale House which we were hoping would include a cheeky glimpse of Philip Olivier’s six pack! On arrival we parked on Birchley Street car park which is free after 7pm and only a short five minute walk to the theatre. On arrival we were greeted in the bar area with a programme and asked our requirements for an interval drink which was a lovely touch. We took our seats in the stalls on Row F which offered a fantastically close central view of the stage.
Within the opening monologue from leading lady, Lucy (Lindzi Germain) it was clear that the humour was not going to be for the fainthearted, her hilarious depiction of cleaning out the toilets after a fruity evening was ‘borkingly funny’ and it was possible to feel her pain and left me feeling a bit nauseous.
The story focuses on The Ale House, a local drinking establishment, with a number of regular clientele. It’s New Years Day, the day after the night before and the shenanigans that went on. From Joe, the hero from the war, with his newly fitted hearing aid which clearly didn’t work properly unless someone offered to buy him a beer to Trevor, a strange man with nervous ticks abound and a habit of breaking into random sayings from Dads Army, not to mention a few dance moves thrown in for good measure. Yogi (Philip Olivier) Robbo, (Philip Mcguiness) and Kick off, (George Wilson) are a motley crew who’ll do anything for a quick ‘Squid-a-rooney’ and are at the forefront of the gutter level humour and Yogi quickly becomes known to the audience as a player and a bit of a billy bragger character, especially when referring to his successes with the gold booted goddess who had become a notch on his bed post the previous evening. She later stars in the show asking Yogi for his help to locate her bus pass. Hilarious.
No pub is complete with the local wheeler dealer, raver (Kivan Dene) an old dear (Bernie Foley) and a wayward priest wearing minion undies!!! (Les O’Dochartaigh) looking for the miscreant who took a (hmm you work it out) in his front garden.
Follow this upbeat, rib-hurting, face-achingly funny comedy to find out more of the relationships between the characters and the trouble they get into. Some parts are extremely unexpected and touch upon certain vulnerability’s within the cast. This is not one for audiences that may be easily offended as stereo typical views are portrayed without apology and the language is often choice but totally relevant.
We had an absolute ball and although some of the jokes were years old, it’s often not what is said but how it’s told. Loved every minute of it and didn’t want it to end. Made even better by the tweeted reply from Philip Olivier earlier today.
Grab a ticket and laugh away an evening.
Rating: 5/5 
Tickets cost from £15 to £20 (booking fees may apply).
The Ale House is at the St Helens Theatre Royal until 10 October 2015. For more information or to book tickets click here or call the box office on 01744 756000.
St.Helens Theatre Royal, Corporation Street, St.Helens, Merseyside, WA10 1LQ
