A Christmas Getaway At Lichfield Garrick Theatre & Studio Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Dottie Rood
The definitions of ‘Farce’ are:
A comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically includes crude characterisation and ludicrously improbable situations.
Slapstick comedy-the dramatic genre represented by farces, “the choregraphed confusion of real farce”.
An event or situation that is absurd or disorganised.
A play about ridiculous and absurd situations that is intended to make people laugh.
A humorous play or film were the characters become involved in unlikely situations.
And this play fitted the above descriptions to a tee!
With a cast of just four members:
Rosie Coles plays: Len Klepson, Misty Norton, Magic Kath and Kim Jameson.
Kirsty Cox plays: Kath Jameson, Jill Thorpe, Ms Stokes, Prancer, Carol Singer, Carol Singer, Carol Woods and ‘Magic Len’. Philip Jennings plays: Derek Fambridge (Butler) and Dancer. Stuart Tavendale plays: Claude DuBois, Sam Drudge, Carl Jameson and Dasher.
This was a fast paced, funny and entertaining performance!
It started with the butler who laid out the story in a song, this was at the very beginning however there was far more to this story as we were about to find out! If you can think of everyone wanting to be with someone else and then all of them deciding to have a ‘Getaway’ to the country house to meet up with their NOT! better halves (or perspective NOT better halves) then you’ve nearly got the gist of the story (maybe!). Add to the story that the country house is being sold and the butler is trying to ‘pilfer’ some of the more valuable items as he feels he has always been underpaid then you’ve got another section of the story.
This all sounds very confusing (and maybe it was a little bit in parts!) but as the ‘plot’ was repeated lots we were able to keep up!
This was all done with humour, fantastic and very quick costume changes and a lovely fun atmosphere throughout, my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed it and made us (and the rest of the audience) laugh out loud through most of the show.
There were a number of stand out moments which included Misty (Rosie Coles) playing herself and Len with a costume on each half of her body acting a full scene and never once mixing up the characters. Plus the reindeers (Philip Jennings, Kirsty Cox and Stuart Tavendale) suddenly appearing in the door and performing such a funny scene (and then managing to get changed back to their main characters!), then later the carol singer(S) (only Kirsty Cox played all the carol singers by bobbing her head along cut-outs of the three carol singers and somebody behind putting different hats on her, hilarious!). Also at the beginning of the second half Ms Stokes and the butler perform a brilliant ‘song and dance’ routine that put me in mind of Morecombe and Wises breakfast scene from their T.V programme, brilliant.
Feargus Woods Dunlop wrote and directed this play and the collective name of the actors is, New Old Friends. They have performed here at the Lichfield Garrick studio on a number of previous occasions since 2017 and they are quoted in the program as saying, “ a return to farcical adult fare…A Christmas Getaway premiered at Theatre Royal Bath’s Ustinov…and is our nod to classic British farce, with nods to P.G Wodehouse and Morcombe and Wise along the way, we’re over the moon to return to our spiritual Christmas home in Lichfield”.
The Lichfield Garrick studio is a lovely theatre in the middle of Lichfield town centre with ample parking very near-by. It is only small in the studio section, holding 220 people, this added to the lovely feeling of being able to see and hear everything that was happening on stage and enabled you to really keep up with all the toing and froing. The seats were comfortable with adequate space in between and there was a good selection of drinks and snacks at a reasonable cost. Plus the information received from the theatre before the show was very helpful.
I would recommend this show as an opportunity to escape the hustle and bustle of Christmas or to just treat yourself to a really fun evening.
Rating: 5/5
Tickets cost: £22.00
The Christmas Getaway is at Garrick Theatre Lichfield from Friday 8th December to Sunday 31st December 2023
https://www.lichfieldgarrick.com/whats-on/all-shows/a-christmas-getaway/3166
For more information and to book tickets visit: garrick@lichfieldgarrick.com
or call the box office on: 01543412121
Garrick Lichfield Theatre Castle Dyke Staffs WS136HR