"Out Of Order" by Ray Cooney.

Beeston Players.

Round Hill School, Beeston.

When Richard Willey, a Government Junior Minister, plans to spend the evening with Jane Worthington, one of the Opposition’s typists, in the Westminster Hotel, things go disastrously wrong - beginning with the discovery of a body trapped in the hotel’s only unreliable sash window.

Desperately trying to get out of an extremely sticky situation, Richard calls for his secretary, George Pigden who, through Richard’s lies sinks further and further into trouble with everybody and ends up going through an identity crisis.

Things go from bad to worse with the arrival of Jane’s distraught young husband and with the addition of an unscrupulous waiter, a frustrated Hotel Manager, Mrs Willey and Nurse Foster,  things really come to a head!

Farce is a funny old area of comedy which takes me back to my childhood in the 70's. Brian Rix and "whoops there goes my trousers". Farce is always about timing and doors, just think "Fawlty Towers" at the supreme end of the farce scale. Farce also encompasses a lot of physical humour and there's no shortage of that here.

Farce is a comedy style that is exaggerated and aims at entertaining the audience through situations that are over the top, and thus improbable. That too is in abundance here as well. Farce also indicates a certain amount of nudity, and yes, there's that as well!!

Richard Willey is played by Gary Frost. There aren't that many scenes where Gary isn't on stage, and as the leading man has the bulk of the script, and the clever word play, and quite rapid the script and wordplay is, well it is farce, and that's where so much of the verbal comedy lies. There's a really nice feeling of Richard really thinking on his feet with all of the twists and turns and little white lies that are told, all of this brought out by Gary. Keeping up with all of Richard's ongoing fibs takes some serious listening to, and you can almost see those thoughts speeding through Richard's mind in an ongoing attempt to dig himself out of trouble. 

The Manager, the highly suspicious and observant manager of the Westminster Hotel, is played by Meghan Southan. Always chasing her own tail with all the lines fed by Richard, but never quite catching it. Megan's facial expressions really back up the often frustrated lines, trying to work out who is who and their relationships to everyone else.

Rajni Birdi is The Waiter, an opportunistic, unscrupulous, and conniving hotel employee who catches wind of the illicit affair. I've an idea that Rajni is one of the new members of Beeston Players as I've not seen her on stage anywhere as far as I can recall. With the confidence shown as this character, I have an inkling that this can't be her first time on stage. A lovely show of confidence which makes her character a joy to watch, and possibly the only character who actually profits from the farce.

Jane Worthington, the opposition party typist and Richard’s prospective romantic partner for the evening, is played by Ali Parnham. I'm surprised that Jane knows who she is with all the confusion, but this typist isn't the only one. One thing that Jane isn't confused about is that her husband, for some reason, is hanging around the Westminster Hotel lobby, and he doesn't look happy!

Sean Knowles is "The Body". There's a surprise as well with this character, because all is not as first appears when we see new life breathed into a character that seems to have died on stage. It would have been a real shame if that were true because Sean manages to bring even more confusion to the already twisty story as The Body.

George Pigden, Richard’s innocent, loyal, and easily flustered personal private secretary who gets dragged into the cover-up, is played by Paul Langston. Paul does confusion extremely well, especially when Pigden, who has been called in to help clear up the little mess caused by Richard and Jane's hotel discovery, and ends up being embroiled in the confusion of many ongoing storylines and characters.

Christine Cairns is The Maid. She is originally from Italy, or is that Venice, or maybe Spain, so there's that element of bringing in another string of confusion in language form. Christine is another new name to me, and possibly another new signing for Beeston Players. 

Ronnie Worthington, Jane Worthington's suspicious husband, is played by Callum Scott. Ronnie is not a happy bunny, occasionally showing an emotional and revealing side to this character. Callum seems to be comfortably at home with comedy, but I have a feeling that he could do menacing equally as well. You'll also be pleased to know that Beeston Players have used Callum's raw talents to maximum effect in his role as Ronnie.

Pamela Willey, Richard's wife, is played by Sarah Nicholson. When Pamela decides to surprise her husband at the hotel, little does she know that the surprise goes both ways. I love the looks of confusion that Sarah wears almost constantly throughout; with the speed of the action in the second act, there's really not much time for all the action to register with poor Pamela!

Sue Frost plays Gladys Foster, the matronly carer for George Pigden's elderly mother who becomes comically swept up in the chaotic cover-up at the Westminster Hotel. There's also a surprise in store for Nurse Foster from one of the characters. Sue is one of those comedy character actors who never fails to put a smile on my face, both verbally and physically. This is almost only a cameo role but packs so much comedy into her time on stage that you are forced to remember Nurse Foster.

The other character that makes this play is the sash window, which seems to have a life of its' own, and more than that I will keep to myself and let you discover what I mean!

Directed by Tom Jenkins, the secret of a good farce is always timing, and Tom makes sure that his cast, which is a large one when compared to some of the other Beeston Players casts, deliver the gags in a timely fashion, often the gags are like rapid fire comedy one liners, so not only do you have to listen very carefully to the script for who is who, thanks to Richard's active imagination in trying to dig himself out of the hole, that ends up like a crater by the end of the play, but also for the rapidity of the funny lines.

The set design and construction is by Tom as well as Sam Williams and Callum Scott. It's all set in the hotel room of the Westminster. Decorated in a vibrant red colour with the essential three doors and a window needed for farce, and of course one of the doors that seems to open at the most unwarranted of times in the play. The dressing of the set is also quite classy with some nice props, sourced by Tom Jenkins and Ali Parnham.

Costumes are by Barbara Barton, and as usual with the Beeston Players, the costumes are always look excellent.

Production Manager, which is a far reaching job title and essential to all local theatre groups, is Nina Tunnicliffe.

Stage managed by Kevin Fairbrother.

Sound is by Sam Williams who has been involved in this area of production for a while, which explains why he is so good at his job. The timing of the sound effects are spot on, and that includes the synchronicity of the changing of the radio stations near the beginning of the play. I'm sure that I recognised the voice of the newsreader, but I just can't quite place their name!

Lighting is by Robert Jackson, showing that not only is Robert a wonderful character actor, he has talents on the lighting control desk as well.

Alison Williams is the Prompt, who's voice we heard a few times throughout the play, but this was opening night and the script is such a meandering and complex one that it almost makes you wonder if Ray Cooney was on something when he wrote "Out Of Order".

As usual the Front Of House team, led by Nicola Adkin, are one of the most welcoming around, selling raffle tickets, manning the bar and making free teas and coffees in the interval.

Now that England have played, and beat Croatia 4-2, there's no reason to not make your way to Beeston for even more dramatic action over the next couple of days.

"Out Of Order" is at Round Hill School, Beeston until Saturday 20 June.