This sharply directed production begins like a 1970's 'kitchen sink' commentary on social mobility but soon develops into an hilariously comic and beautifully tragic night out. The play is set in the kitchens of three different couples over three consecutive years. Each year brings changes to the status and happiness of each couple. Fortunes are reversed. We witness the rise of the petit bourgeois shopkeeper and the fall of the upper-class banker and his wife (with a fair bit of suffering thrown in for the Bohemians in the middle).
       The play opens with the pushy and bullying Sidney and his cleaning-obsessed wife Jane preparing to host a 'civilised coctail party' for two couples whom the ambitious Sidney wants to impress- predominantly, bank manager Ronald and his increasingly alcoholic wife, Marion. Sidney is looking for a loan to kick-start his property business but Ronald and trendy Architect Geoffrey look down on him for his social ineptitude and common background. The evening descends into farce and chaos with Jane locked out in the rain and the wives complaining that the men have abandoned them. Not all is lost, however, as Sidney eventually gets his loan.
       In spite of its entertaining qualities, the first act felt dated. It reminded me of re-runs of the Good Life mixed with Abigail's Party. Perhaps this was because of the deliberately 1970's kitchen with its lino and orange curtains (commented on with glee by arch-snob Marion). I confess, my complimentary whisky during the first interval helped to persuade me to stay for the second act.
       Act two however is blacker and much funnier with Eva (played by the nimble Honeysuckle Weeks), trying to commit suicide, while the other characters misinterpret her behaviour as impotent attempts at housework. This is where the show and script really pick up often eliciting uncontrollable laughter from the audience. The sight of Roger shivering with post-electric-shock, covered in laundry and looking like Laurence of Arabia had my companion in stitches. The round of applause before the second interval was whole-hearted.
       It is the third act that elevates this play beyond the realm of quite good comedy to very good. We see the Bohemians and the Bankers in various states of degradation while Matthew Cottle's menacing Sidney, now a successful businessman, makes them dance to his tune; round and round the table like caricatures on a wheel of fortune.. There is no tidy or convenient ending. The characters' lives have been full of sound and fury but they mean nothing. Rich or poor, drunk or sober, none of the couples are happy.
       The show was definitely worth the schlep to Richmond and performances are all excellent.
Ed Glass