“Dial M For Murder” by Tabs Productions
Nottingham Playhouse.

The Colin McIntyre Classic Thriller Season is back, but with a change of venue due to the refurbishment work at the Nottingham Theatre Royal. It is temporarily being staged at the Nottingham Playhouse for two of the three thrillers for 2017. The first of these three is “Dial M For Murder” written by Frederick Knott in 1954.

In this play we already know who has done what and to whom. Ex-tennis pro Tony Wendice decides to murder his wife for her money and because she had an affair the year before. He blackmails an old college associate to strangle her, but when things go wrong he sees a way to turn events to his advantage.

This gripping noir thriller, famously brought to the big screen by Alfred Hitchcock, transforms the classic ‘whodunnit’ into the ‘will they get away with it?' Is it possible to commit the perfect crime, or will justice always prevail?

I've seen this very stylish thriller before but even knowing the plot and the outcome, I was still almost on the edge of my seat, transfixed.

The ascending tension levels, complemented by the music, created the perfect atmosphere for this thriller, and the facial expressions of the actors also created a retro feeling of the old black and white movies. Something that director, Karen Henson recreated in that classic Hitchcock style so well.

A lovely set design (Sarah Wynne Kordas) which again created the whole feel of 1950's style befitting the wealth of an ex tennis pro.

Talking of style, the costumes were right up my street. If I could have a wardrobe as stylish as these costumes, I'd be a very happy man. Real class, and all the work of Geoff Gilder.

Anna Mitchum (Sheila Wendice) exuded an air of glamour as the intended victim of the plot

David Osmond (Tony Wendice) is wonderfully clipped vocally as the ex tennis pro, and an actor that the ladies will want to watch.

Chris Sheridan (Max Halliday), who you'll recognise from previous Thriller seasons is back, delivering another stylish performance as Sheila's bit on the side, who's smart enough to solve part of the mystery. Playing a crime writer, he uses his working instincts to unravel what he thinks has happened.

Mark Huckett (Charles Swann) is a new name to me,as far as I can remember. Mark plays the man blackmailed into committing the murder that goes wrong.

Chief Inspector Hubbard is played by John Lyons, and a return to the Thriller season for John who we saw in last year's "Father Brown" mystery play.We all know that Hubbard is going to get his man, but it's

how he puts all the pieces of the jigsaw together that is fascinating, as well as those humoresque little comments. You will recognise John from his extensive TV roles, especially as David Jason's sidekick in "A Touch Of Frost".

It's a classic thriller, well written and wonderfully performed, as expected from this team of ridiculously talented people. When you think that this group, Tab Productions, are keeping the art of repertory theatre alive, i.e., performing one play while in rehearsal for the next two plays, often three, you can appreciate the talent as well as hard work that goes into these faultless performances.

If you love your classic thrillers/murder mysteries, and you've never seen one of Tabs productions before, you really need to go and experience the class of these plays and players.

“Dial M For Murder” is at the Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 15 July 2017.

"Dangerous Corner" by J B Priestley is on from 18 July 2017 until Saturday 22 July 2017 at the Nottingham Playhouse.

"Marie Lloyd and the Music Hall Murder", written by Karen Henson, is being performed from 25 July 2017 until Saturday 29 July 2017 at the National Justice Museum (Galleries Of Justice).

Tickets are from £16.00.

It would be a crime to miss out!

"Theatricality" by Bear Left Theatre Company.
Bonington Theatre, Arnold.

This was something just a little bit different to what I've seen from Bear Left in the past. A showcase of musical theatre songs and a selection of scenes from dramatic plays.

Nor all went to plan but that's the "fun" of live theatre. Turning these blips in on themselves and making comments about what didn't go to plan shows professionalism which also made the small, but appreciative audience warm to the group even more.

Our MC for the night was Sofia. I loved the casual approach and the comedy, having MC'd shows like this before myself, I know that it's not easy but Sofia made it look effortless.Not an easy feat when she only agreed to the role a week ago.

After the introduction they went into an entertaining version of "All That Jazz" from Chicago featuring Eleanor Mallinson and Danielle Hall as well as introducing us to the whole cast.

Cat Howourth gave us "Every Story Is A Love Story" from Aida followed by a great version of "Pulled" from The Addams Family Musical sung by Danielle Hall. That song had been stuck in my head since I saw the musical a couple of weeks ago.

We had a bit of drama from Lauren Nicole taken from Hamlet and Ophelia's flower speech, and when I say drama I really mean dramatic!

Stacey gave us a belter of a version of "The Wizard And I" from Wicked, followed by more drama from Danielle, Stephi Durand , Marina Kyriacou and Carly Smith with the Sally Nix re write of a section from "Robin Hood"

One of my favourite songs from the "9 To 5" Musical called "Get Out And Stay Out" was belted out by Eleanor Mallinson.

We then found out what "Swans On Strike" meant on the programme with a bit more comedy.

In contract, Carly Smith gave us the famous "Winter of Discontent" speech from Richard III.

More drama from Eleanor, Marina and Carly with three short scenes from Shakespeare's "Macbeth".

Act Two continued with another of my favourites, which I've seen Bear Left perform in full, from "The Importance Of Being Earnest", the tea and cake scene between Cicely and Gwendoline, acted out by Stephi,Marina and Danielle.

More drama comedy, once more from the pen of the Bard and the night fight scene from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" from Danielle, Sally, Carly and Marina..

Danielle next delivered a wonderful song from a musical that I'd not heard of before tonight. the musical is called "Ordinary Days" and the song, which was delivered with such emotion, was called "I'll Be There".

"Make Him Mine" from The Witches Of Eastwick was up next from Cat, Eleanor and Stacey.

I loved the Yorkshire version of "Love Letters", a scene from the Merry Wives Of Windsor, complete with mugs of tea (Yorkshire tea I imagine), headscarves and overalls tha knorrs, A lovely comic slant presented wi accents by Marina and Danielle.

Up to yet I've only mentioned the female section of the cast, but there was one male contigent in Josh Hayes. Josh performed a brilliantly emotive piece from "Doctor Faustus" called Time Is Up. I was expecting this to be good as Josh is a drama teacher for Nottingham Academy of Performing Arts.

The final bows were done to the playout music of "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life".

A lovely evening of theatre based entertainment from a talented band of actors and singers. Just a shame that more people didn't experience this entertainment as local theatre needs as much support as possible.

“A Chorus Line” by Spotlight Theatre Company
Nottingham Playhouse

Centred on seventeen Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line, the musical is set on the bare stage of a Broadway theatre during an audition for a musical. A Chorus Line provides a glimpse into the personalities of the performers and the choreographer as they describe the events that have shaped their lives and their decisions to become dancers.

The show opens in the middle of an audition for an upcoming Broadway production. The director Zach (Liam Hall) and his assistant choreographer Larry put the dancers through their paces.

Every dancer is desperate for work. After the next round of cuts, 17 dancers remain. Zach tells them he is looking for a strong dancing chorus of four boys and four girls. He wants to learn more about them, and asks the dancers to introduce themselves. With reluctance, the dancers reveal their pasts.

This whole cast are a great team who work so well together. No surprise because I know what brilliant ensemble actors these lot are.. The show is secondarily about dance and who better to choreograph this show than Jessica Royce. Several dance styles covered but, for me, the tap section was superb. I know that some of the actors profess not to be the best dancers, but for all their protestations this didn't show, Classy and tight.

The cast are like a who's who of local theatre performers and having met and spoke to many of the cast, I have an idea of their strengths and the hard work that they all put into a show such as this. A cast of 33 filled the Playhouse stage and to mention them all by name would fill the next two paragraphs, so I won't, but you need to know that 110% was given by every single actor on stage.

I will however single out just a few.....

Ellie Monterosso, as Diana, got the goosebumps going in her perfect version of "What I Did For Love" as well as "Nothing"

Matty Collins played Paul San Marco, emotionally relives his childhood and high school experience, his early career in a drag act, coming to terms with his manhood and his homosexuality, and his parents' ultimate reaction to finding out about his lifestyle. Paul breaks down and is comforted by Zach. I can't remember seeing Matty play a role like this before, which shows a more mature side of his acting abilities.

In the weekend start of Pride, stories and characters like this are so important to remind us how far the gay community, and even more so, the straight community has come.

Maya Thompson's streetwise character Sheila,added more class with her "At The Ballet" sequence.

Patrick McChrystal raises a knowing smile with his character,Mark's revelations of his first experiences with pictures of the female anatomy and his first wet dream,

Charleigh Hurst gave us an interesting insight in how to get on in auditions with Valerie's silicone valley experiences in "Dance Ten, Looks Three"

Ella Greenwood plays Cassie who has previous experience of Zach, who does everything to deter Cassie from trying out for a part in the chorus as this is taking a step backwards from the featured role he had given her previously. Then he turns back the years to question her on why she left him years before. An emotional scene with both Ella and Liam.

Ella also gives a showcase of a performance in her featured dance segment in "The Music And The Mirror"

Liam, as Zach shows a softer more vulnerable side as he opens his heart just a little. His harder, business like exterior melts a bit in this scene as well as he did with Paul.

Just a few of my favourite highlights, of which there are so many in this musical

There are some wonderful musical pieces that will be well known to most people. “I Can Do that”, “Nothing”, the big glitzy number to close “One” and of course “What I Did For Love”. Behind the almost continuous score is MD Mitch Gamble and the 11 piece orchestra which complemented the vocals without once drowning them.

I can see this show providing the already multi award winning Director, Amanda Hall with another NODA next year.

Great sound (Rob Kettridge) and lighting (Tom Mowat).

This musical will make you smile, it'll also make you think with some of the stories that are related. But you will enjoy the sheer class and quality of this musical incite into casting.

“A Chorus Line” is only on until Saturday 8 July 2017 at the Nottingham Playhouse so you only have “One” more chance to get tickets. Don't miss out!

"Boogie Nights" by Erewash Musical Society Youth Group.
Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

"Boogie Nights" is one of those "jukebox musicals" where the plot comes second to the music. That in itself isn't a bad thing when the musical soundtrack is as good as this. You'll know every single song in "Boogie Nights".

The story is fluffy and goes as follows.....

We open the scene at a wedding and Roddie is being told by Debs that this is the happiest day of her life. Flashback a few years and Debs and Roddie meet and Roddie, as part of the truth/dare game is dared by his best mate, Terry, to ask Debs out, and the rest is, as they say, history.

The thing is, Roddie is a jack the lad and has an eye for the ladies and soon is distracted by Lorraine, who is going steady with Spencer, who is Roddie's boss, well Roddie is roadie for him as Spencer is a singer i a disco band.

Well, all must have turned out OK in the end as they were at their wedding, weren't they?.....

This isn't Shakespeare, more Shake Your Body Down, and that's OK by me because nit has great entertainment value and a soundtrack that defies you to keep your feet still, and fails.

Charlie Pierson plays Roddie and what a performance he gives. Charlie is a confident comedy actor. He plays up to the audience and Roddie's sexist pig attitude attracts some reaction from the audience, all in the best possible taste though, lapping up the audience's response with great fun. He has a good bassy voice and in a few years will have trained that voice to be a useful asset in musical theatre. A good fun performer.

Debs is played by Holly Pilgrim. At first being the under the thumb, know your place woman but soon gains the strength to break that image to turn things around after she miscarries Roddie's baby. A lovely confident performer.

Terry, Roddie's mate, is played by James Christian. Another fun character who is there at the start for Roddie and Debs and gets to double date with Trish, but unlike Roddie and Debs only get as far as "fiddling", and we ain't talking Stradivarius here! Great ending for these two though. James also gets to sing all of the falsetto songs like "Sugar Baby Love", a nice contrast to Charlie's lower register.

Trish is played by Rebecca Groombridge. These EMUS are packed with confident actors and Rebecca is yet another one. She has been let in to Debs's secret but soon lets the secret slip, but is still a faithful friend to Debs throughout.

DJ Dean, who has the hots for Debs is played by Ethan Fletcher. As a former 1970's mobile jock, I loved his interpretation of a 70's mobile jock, and he looked the part as he whipped the dancers up into a Disco Inferno.

The disco band singer, Spencer is another one to keep your eye on. Reuben Gotts is a young actor who can pull off the older character swagger, well when I say older, he's not that much younger than the character himself. Some good emotional outbursts of sexist pig (were all males in the 70's sexist pigs?). Reuben can move well in the choreography stakes and he looked totally at ease in this field.

Lorraine, who is Spencer's woman aka his property, is played by Jorja Foster. What can I say about Jorja's voice? Only that it's one of the strongest on stage last night. Some of the songs that she had to tackle weren't the easiest, especially the Donna Summer songs like "Last Dance" and "No More Tears", but she took these difficult songs and sung her heart out.

Roddie's Dad, Eammon, is an Elvis disciple and when The King dies in 1977, he is distraught and takes his anger out on his son. Joe Langley plays Eammon with a lot of passion.

It takes a large ensemble to fill out the disco scenes and they all capture the feel of 1970's night clubs really well. they embraced the different dances of the era really well and filled the stage with some great backing vocals.

With this being a musical about disco music, in the words of 80's funk band Imagination, you gotta have music and lights, and both these help make this musical the exciting success it was.

Partly backing tracks and part, but mostly live orchestra, under the guidance of Martin Lewis. I was quite surprised that there were only four musicians involved in creating that wonderful 70's music vibe. Luis Orgando (guitar), Marcus Cain (bass) and the flying sticks of one of the best drummers I've heard at The Duchess, Will Raybould.

From the very first scene in the disco, the lights transformed that stage to a place you wanted to shake your groove thing down to. Thanks to Matthew Cook who, I have on very good authority has only just left school and this is his first lighting gig at The Duchess. Well that is the way to make your mark. a case of not hiding your lights under a bushel. Brilliant atmosphere.

A nice clear sound mix by Dave Martin.

The costumes will also take you back in time. Leathers and flares a plenty, wide collared shirts and Saturday Night Fever suits, lycra and crop tops. it could even be my wardrobe they raided, but no, the costumes were all provided by the committee and family and friends.

Choreography is by Carol Lawson and what an amazing job she did. I wanted to be on that stage as they looked like they were having so much fun. So many classic 70's disco moves, and when you think that all of these moves and the music would have been quite new to many of these young actors, they did Carol proud with their energy and enthusiasm.

Produced and Directed by Chrissie Oakden, she kept the all important energy going throughout.

I noted as well that Erewash Radio got a mention from Roddie. i wonder whose decision it was to include that in the script?

I now have a couple of gripes which, i imagine aren't anything this group could change.

This musical was released for youth groups to perform but there are certain words and phrases which I personally thought were not suitable for some of the young actors and came across as a bit embarrassing.

I have a feeling that when the script and the musical is released, the group performing has to stick to the script verbatim, being unable to change anything, not even odd words. I feel that by changing some of the more adult words and turn of phrases, the delivery of phrases like "tossing" could have been removed or changed to something less explicit. I am by no means a prude but for such young actors, it may be that they were not even aware of the meanings within this script. This I feel may be in the contract in leasing the rights to perform not to change or alter the script and not with the theatre group performing it.

Secondly, and again nothing at all to do with EMUS, the year the musical is set is 1977 and a couple of timelined years prior to 1977. You'd have thought that Shane Richie, Jon Conway and Terry Morrison may have done their musical history as several of the songs featured weren't even written until later that decade and some not until the 1980s.

That aside, the music is like being at the best disco in the world, "You Sexy Thing", "Celebration", "Disco Inferno", "YMCA", "Can You Feel It", "The Hustle", "Sugar Baby Love", "Lady Marmalade", "I Will Survive", "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", "Play that Funky Music" as well as some nice 70's ballads "Sorry Seems To be The Hardest Word", "If You Leave Me Now", "Yesterday Once More" and "Always On My Mind".

A few issues with mics but nothing that could mar this celebration of all things fun and 70's, plus spotting all of those 70's references including a comic segment of Simon Bates' "Our Tune" with Roddie's story.

Being involved in radio i happen to know that this segment in Simon Bates' show didn't start until 1979 and the song that was played wasn't recorded until 1981. Shane Richie if you need any music research done for your next musical, give me a call!

"Boogie Nights" is night of fun with some of the best music from the 70's and 80's and a wonderful cast with boundless energy and great enthusiasm throughout the whole show.

You can see this show at The Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton until Saturday 8 July 2017 and don't forget to take your boogie shows with you, because you should be dancing by the end of the last dance.

“Equus” by Festival Players
Robert Martin Theatre, Loughborough.

Written by Peter Shaffer in 1973, it tells the story of a psychiatrist, Martin Dysart, who attempts to treat a young man, Alan Strang, who has a pathological religious fascination with horses. This is based on a crime that Shaffer had heard about involving a 17-year-old who blinded six horses in a small town near Suffolk. He set out to construct a fictional account of what might have caused the incident, without knowing any of the details of the crime.

The original stage production of “Equus”, which is Latin for horse, ran at the National Theatre in London between 1973 and 1975.

Alan Strang is brought in front of magistrates on a charge of blinding six horses. One of the magistrates seeks the help of child psychiatrist to unravel the mystery of what made the boy commit such a crime, and to attempt some kind of cure.

Through interviews with the boy's parents and Strang himself, Dysart starts to slot the pieces of the

jigsaw into place, and the climax of the play sees a re-enactment of the crime in the stables where the boy worked and what was the catalyst for such an heinous crime.

Steve Illidge (Martin Dysart) is a brilliant story teller, and that's what is so fascinating about this play, the story itself and the way that it is told and played out in little scenes. You can see Dysart, by way of Steve, picking apart the information he gains about Strang and then piecing it back together as he plays his seemingly innocent games with Alan.

The story isn't just about Strang because the characters on the interim of Strang's life play such a major part in the telling of the story, and the build up to the crime.

Dora Strang (Cathy Rackstraw) the mother is deeply religious and although she said that she didn't like to push religion, she obviously had a certain influence on Strang.

Frank Strang (Nick Grainger), the father has some secrets he's kept from his wife and Alan inadvertently discovers one of them changing the whole chemistry in their relationship. Frank is an atheist who believed that watching TV was not good for Alan and would prefer him to have his head stuck in a book.

Hester Soloman (Julie Easter) is the magistrate who, practically saves Alan from being imprisoned with the key thrown away if left up to the other magistrates. Her female intuition proves to be right by asking Dysart to take on the case..

Jill Mason (Grace Lavender) was the stable girl who got Alan the job at the stables. She saw past Alan's shyness and developed a thing for him.

Dalton (Phil Burrows), the owner of the stables provided some useful information to Dysart which added another piece of the jigsaw to the puzzle.

Kirt Hammonds played Horseman and Nugget. Nugget being the horse that Strang favoured at the stables.

The other horses were played by Milo Hacker, Chris Marshall and Fred Wardale. Brilliant physicality in these roles to make you believe these were horses by their distinctive movementThe nurse who looked after Strang was played by Natasha Nicholls

Alan Strang was played by Dan Grooms. I've seen Dan only in comic roles before and seeing him play such a dark and damaged character is a real eye opener to his acting abilities. Strang at 17 is younger than Dan, only just, and to take on a role like this I know was a big thing for Dan, but he put in a power house of a performance.

Many people, when Daniel Radcliffe took on the role in London and then Broadway obviously focused on the nudity of the play. This section of the play was done with great confidence and, while being an essential part of the story, should not be made the main attraction because the story, the acting and the telling of the story is the main thing. You have to give Dan his due, he's a brave man for taking on the role because of the nudity and it takes a good actor to be as confident in his acting to portray such a dark and damaged soul as Strang.

Directed by Ingrid Daniels, she created such a sense of tension which built up gradually and left you hanging by the end of Act One, only to do the same in Act Two. I've seen one other production of this play years ago which made me feel uncomfortable but not for the same reasons that this version made me feel uncomfortable.

The whole atmosphere with the background music (Richard Daniels) and lighting (Dave Hill) at times

gave you the creeps, which is what this play is set out to do. It's a play to provoke thought and discussion and it succeeded in doing that.

Designed by Andrew McGowan the set was reminiscent of a boxing ring and in this arena several battles between Strang and Dysart were fought out. A clever transparent back drop gave depth to the staging.

The big steely horse heads made you think that they could be horses with a little bit of imagination, These were on loan from the National Theatre.

A clever use of screens allowed you to envisage the inner mind and memories of Strang in flashbacks.

It's not too often that such a dark and powerful play is taken up by local theatre groups and that's why you need to take this opportunity to see this, at times harrowing classic on stage, where it belongs, stripped back and shocking.

“Equus” performed by The Festival Players is at the Robert Martin Theatre on the Loughborough University Grounds until Saturday 8 July 2017 and £1.00 form every ticket sold is to be donated to Rainbows Hospice for children and young adults.

“The Pirates Of Penzance” by People’s Theatre Company
Nottingham Arts Theatre

Also lesser known as “The Slave Of Duty” this comic opera, with lyrics by W S Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan is all about Frederic, who having reached the ripe old age of 21 is released from his apprenticeship from a group of pirates. He meets Mabel, who is the daughter of Major-General Stanley and guess what?... Yes you guessed correct, they fall in love.

Now Frederic’s birthday just happens to fall on 29 February which makes him a leap year baby. This also means that technically he only gets a Birthday every four years. The contract with the pirates state that he has to remain apprenticed to the pirates until his 21st Birthday. This of course means that he won’t be released from the apprenticeship until he has served another 63 years. Frederic finds solace in the fact though that Mabel has said that she will wait for him……

Playing our apprentice pirate is Andrew Rushton, who has a list of G&S classics, as well as other opera favourites under his belt, so a perfect choice as Frederic. He looks the part of a pirate as well.

Mabel, played by Jenny Ashworth, had a lovely voice, if only I could have heard it properly, and I was only sat four rows from the front. Nor sure if Jenny was a little nervous, as this was her Nottingham debut. Jenny has a history of singing in choirs and has been part of several G&S productions but I just wanted to hear that power in her very pure voice, and I didn't get a lot of it. What i did hear though, I loved. Mic that woman up Mr Director!

The Modern Major General Stanley is played by David Lovell. Now here's a man with projection. I heard every word he uttered. His major song, if you'll pardon the pun, was of course the wonderful tongue twisty "I Am the Very Model Of A Modern Major General". A couple of snatched breaths which broke the fluidity of the song, but that is a difficult song to perform and David did it proud.

Directed by Meng Khaw who also played The Pirate King. I knew that this role was in safe hands with Meng. Lovely tone to his voice and some lovely comedy characterisation in this role. As a Director, he kept it pacy and made sure that the comedy was upfront, almost panto-esque, which suited this piece of theatre, and G&S's wordy script so well.

Samuel, The Pirate King's right hand man, was played by PTC regular, Richard Fife. A fun role for Richard to indulge in.

Ruth is played by Jackie Tivers, She has grown up with G&S operas, and she looks confident in this role. Again though I would have liked a bit more amplification, because I know that Jacky has a really good, and experienced voice for this sort of show.

Heading up the police as the Sergeant, was John Gill. G&S is camp and John brought this element out of the Police Sergeant, creating more fun, especially in the song "When A Felon's Not Engaged In His Employment". Some of the comedy lyrics were lost slightly when the choreography kicked in as he turned away from the audience and headed towards the back of the stage. Again, we need mics!

The works of G&S really can divide a mixed cast and show up vocal greatness and those not quite made for opera. That's the case in this production. there were some excellent and strong vocals, and there were some who shine in other musical areas. i know this because I've seen many of this cast in other shows.

There are several actors making their debut in this production and i take my hat off to those first timers breaking their ducks with G&S. It's a lovely fun show and I enjoyed it. It was bright and pacy and the time flew by. No clock watching from me.

I think with the aid of some mics, this show would have been just right as sometimes the orchestra swallowed the singers up and turning away from the audience made for lost lyrics.

Timothy Selman is the Musical Director. The 14 piece orchestra was light and breezy and skipped along at a nice pace. Powerful in the crescendos.

As an ensemble the cast created a gorgeous layered wall of sound, which is where the PTC play to their strengths, well one of many of their strengths, which includes choreography.

Isabella Di Tora has choreographed G&S productions at Nottingham University and the choreography here is, like the songs, bright and breezy and great fun. The whole cast bring out the fun in this field.

The set, while fairly simple provided everything you needed. I say simple but I can imagine the construction and painting of the set was not as simple as I make it out to be. A nice backdrop to the action.

Loved the costumes by the way! Great fun.

This may not be as good as last year's G&S double but the PTC do tend to set their performance bar extremely high but, for me, this falls just below that bar. It's definitely worth seeing and with more projection, it would have been up there.

“Pirates Of Penzance” is at the Nottingham Arts Theatre until Saturday 8 July 2017

“The Play That Goes Wrong”
Nottingham Theatre Royal.

This multi award winning play returns to the Nottingham Theatre Royal stage and, in my humble opinion, a welcome return.

So what’s this play all about, I hear you utter.

The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society are putting on a 1920s murder mystery, but as the title suggests, everything that can go wrong… does! The accident-prone thespians battle against all odds to make it through to their final curtain call.

A play like this is complex and technical to make it look so accident prone. Just think of Les Dawson’s piano playing. It’s out of tune but doing things wrong and playing out of tune to a professional is something that, for them, goes against everything that they’ve been trained to do. It’s natural to perform without mistakes, enter on cue etc, so to deliberately go out to make mistakes isn’t the natural or easiest of jobs to perform.

Needless to say, it is one of the funniest plays that’s been doing the rounds over the last few years, and described as “Fawlty Towers” meets “Noises Off”.

Apart from the wonderful comedy value in this play, you have to admire the comic timing of the actors and the physical energy the cast have, a vital ingredient for any good farce.

The technical and mechanical side of the set is also something to admire as it gradually disintegrates before your very eyes, sometimes making you worry about the safety of the actors.

Doors that stick, wobbly scenery, mis timed sound affects, missed lines, wall decorations and attachments which won't stay put and hammy actors, they're all here. Getting things so wrong has made this play so right.

This is one play where the actors definitely earn their wage;as do the actors playing the actors, talking of which…..

Katie Bernstein played Annie, the stage manager in The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society but also steps into one of the other character's shoes, ending, quite literally, with a battle of One upmanship.

Graeme Rooney played Trevor who was the sound and lighting man. Oh the power he has with those sound effects. At first he played his stage role as one of the other characters with trepidation, he then started to get the bug. (Trying not to give anything away here, spoiler wise).

Patrick Warner played Chris Bean, the director as well as Inspector Carter, with a whole host of other roles within The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society. (Check the credits in the programme). Echoes of John Cleese in his character and physicality.

Jason Callender is Johnathan the actor playing Charles Haversham. His dead body scenes start the chuckle muscles running, but never have I seen a more active corpse!

Edward Howells plays an actor called Dennis Tyde, who in turn plays the manservant Perkins. His pronunciation of certain words in his script are hilarious. His "hammy" acting as Dennis is also a joy.

Adam Byron was Robert Grove, the actor, playing Thomas Colleymore. Grove is the consummate actor who lets nothing faze him. Make sure you read the programme for an insight into Robert Grove as well.

Meg Mortell was Sandra, who played Florence, the fiancee of the "murdered" Charles Haversham.. Sandra loves being in the limelight, no matter what, or who may stand in her way. The show, for her, must go on!

Alistair Kirton played Max, who doubled as Cecil Haversham as well as Arthur the Gardener. As Max he relished the attention he got from the audience when he overdid his part, layering the comedy element. His simple task of answering the phone is comedy gold.

Confused, well so you should be, but what a delightful bubble of confusion. I've tried not to go into the characters and the actors plated by the actors and the plot too much because this is all about the comedy lines, the timing and the visual aspect.

All I will add is that this is one clever piece of theatre and band of actors. It's slapstick at it's best borrowing many stunts and acts from the circus and clowning. The timing of that physical slapstick is as tight as you'll ever see.

Director, Max Bell ekes every single aspect of "amateur" drama mishaps, (which by the way never happens in real life local theatre drama, does it?). His sharp observations also echo back to the silent movie style of comedy of Chaplin, Keaton and Stan and Ollie, and we all know how clever their simple comedy was!.

The incredible mechanical set, designed by Nigel Hook, is just amazing. It really does have to be seen to be believed as a working set. Trevor states that the set is a "death trap", well that just about sums it up.

Having seen this play before I knew what to expect but even so, I was giggling away prior to the build up of the gags.

If there's any play that is going to raise a belly laugh within you, this is the one.

“The Play That Goes Wrong” is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 8 July 2017

Pictures features are not from the current production.