Out of Order ****1/2

‘Out of Order’ by Ray Cooney, is presented by Playlovers at Hackett Hall (not UWA), Draper Street, Floreat at 8.00 pm until Saturday 28^th April.

The scene is a sumptuous suite in a London hotel (superb set) where an MP (Gordon Park) is getting ready for a dirty night with a beautiful young secretary (Janelle Hammond). Before even the first embrace, they find a dead body (David Young) jammed in their 6^th floor room window and have to dispose of it before they are generally compromised.  The MP calls his wet, nervous and virginal parliamentary assistant George (Murray Jackson) and asks him to help.

With the added help of a mercenary waiter (Michael Limb) things start to move along, until numerous interruptions from the supercilious hotel manager (Liam McGinniss), the MP’s wife (Marie Corrigan) and an old-maid nurse (Tina Moore) make things look impossible. Add the appearance of the secretary’s husband (Peter Carr) and the situation is a total shambles.

Gordon Park is famous for his farce performances and this one was one of his best. For the first ten minutes one or two of the actors, whilst very good, missed the demands of farce acting and lagged a little in their delivery. Whether it was an 'end of the week, Friday and I am very tired' feeling I don’t know, but very rapidly they came around and proved their comedy skills. Gordon and Murray were the perfect pair of foils as the powerful shameless MP and his neurotic assistant – fabulous team! The cast seemed to feed off them and the show sparkled. Peter Carr as the jealous and distraught husband was hilarious.

After seeing a very good version of this play at the Old Mill 4 years ago, I was worried if this production would match the standard. The talented director, Susan Vincent, has added quite a few new ideas and little asides – such as the ugly chamber maid’s (Christine Lebone) reflection. The lighting was slick, and many congratulations to the stage staff who had the difficult job of getting the split second window timing just right.

A very professional farce. Superb.