Fanciful farce

Press, 8 March 1978, Page 6

Fanciful farce

By

Howard McNaughton

“Wild Goose Chase,” by Derek Benfield. Directed by John Kim for the Canterbury Repertory Theatre Society. Repertory Theatre. March 4 to 11. Running time: 8 p.m. to 10.10 p.m. In one of the last remaining Ndrman castles, Lord Elrood '(John Smyth) seeks to preserve the austerity of the Middle Ages by taking pot shots at the postman. Meanwhile, his Lady wife (Mary Turnbull) awaits a guest — Roger Newton Strangeways, whose arrival may bring a trace of normality to the weird congregation of eccentrics who chase the very material wild goose of the title around the! castle. Strangeways. of course, never arrives, .but the castle is kept active by the ramblings of figures like Miss Partridge, the diligent medievalist (Rosalind Peek), Chester Dreadnought, a free-! lance photographer (Paul I Bushnell), and Capone and! Wedgewood, a couple of!

escaping jewel thieves (Christ Maher and David Rich). This is the stuff that the best farces are made of, and it does not end there. One of the best performances <: ; comes from Fiona Samuel as 1 •a young Scottish girl who'' i ! Wjy ! >treads “Romeo and Juliet <■ .and falls in love with thej , most inept of the local i ; constabulary; her parallel < - with Apollo is, however,.! ( undercut when he> t materialises (in Mark Lew- i , iington’s hilarious portrayal) J 1 -.as the epitome of gormless- 1 1 11 ness. < l [ Then, there is a splendid ; t ’ I farce performance from Ann ;

(Simpson in the familiar ro'| of maid, who competes wit k Patricia (Michelle Gler> [mere) for the favours oj Dreadnought, who escape, (from his numerous pursuer} iby disguising himself in th, 'various trunks. lamp-shades women’s clothing, and suit, of armour that abounE throughout the castle. These components weit more than enough to ket j. last night’s auditing thoroughly amused, and the 1 * was an added appeal in tig * interestingly complex set, However..the production as < whole did not quite amourl to the success that most <>( its contributors deserved; <a particular, there was a lack > of precise co-ordination of the kind that is integral tq farce, so that the rapid move. .ment sequences suffered. [ Also, pace was handled in a tentative manner, with th a cast apparently reluctant tti hold pauses for their full value. But this Is the sort of thing that comes with confidence. and it was clear that last night’s audience appreciated the farce as a re'axa. tion from the heavier festival programmes.