IT’S probably true to say that there are more bad farces than good ones. Like Shakespeare they require fine nuances and perfect timing, and in the wrong hands they can descend into a mess hammier than Jamie Oliver’s home-raised piggies.
Happily the Marco Players have a long reputation of excellent productions, based on an experienced and professional-standard cast with the occasional injection of promising new blood.
It Runs In The Family is an even-more-complicated-than-usual tale of illegitimate children, cross dressing, mistaken identities and desperate covering-up that would tax the most confident of actors.
The relative newbie on this occasion was Peter Henrys, playing the role of the decidedly disenchanted Leslie, the 20-year-old punk on a mission to find out just who his father really is. Fabulously sneering and snivelling by turns, veteran actors Jason Crompton and Peter Haslam should be looking over their shoulders because Henrys is fast turning into one of the stars of the Marco.
Martin Pearce is also excellent as Dr Hubert Bonney, the hapless doctor unwittingly drawn into his friend’s schemes. Tapdancing, singing and donning all manner of unexpected costumes is all in a day’s work for this brilliant comic actor, whose timing and physicality were spot on.
Of course it’s hard to upstage the experienced pair of Haslam and Crompton. Peter Haslam manages to direct the play while playing the uptight Sir Willoughby Drake, in whose increasingly whiskey-soaked hands rests the career of the lead character Dr David Mortimore, played by Jason Crompton. Crompton’s performance is assured, but it must be at least in part due to the supporting cast, who bat the quickfire dialogue around with the confidence of professionals. All are excellent, but worthy of special mention is Bob Hopkinson, whose appearance late in the play adds an enjoyable extra level of chaos.
Kat Dibbits
THE BOLTON NEWS