Sex please we're Sixty
Sat, 27 Aug 2011, 11:45 amGordon the Optom3 posts in thread
Sex please we're Sixty
Sat, 27 Aug 2011, 11:45 am‘Sex Please We're Sixty’ is an extremely funny farce / situation comedy which was written by British playwrights Michael and Susan Parker. This Australian Premiere is showing at the Rockingham ‘Castle’ Theatre, 8 Attwood Way, Rockingham. Fridays and Saturdays until 10th September. Curtin up at 7.30pm
A widow of twenty years, the straight laced Mrs. Stancliffe (Irene Jones), runs a bed and breakfast guest house, ‘Rose Cottage’. Each year sees many of the regular lady guests returning for a relaxing stay, or do they in fact come back to see Mrs Stancliffe’s neighbour and general help, Bud ‘The Stud’ (David Heckingbottom)?
Bud is on the wrong side of sixty, but with his sex drive as demanding as ever, his corny chat-up lines and the help of Viagra, he keeps the visitors satisfied.
The widow has another neighbour calling daily, it is shy Henry (Andy Walker), a retired pharmacist, who despite regularly proposing to Mrs S. never seems to get even an acknowledgement of his intense love. He develops a magic tablet that he hopes will break down the post menopausal tensions, and give him success with this woman of his dreams. But do the tablets have any side affects?
Soon the guests start arriving, first is the renowned author, Victoria Ambrose (Helen Brown), then the shy and demure Hillary (Sue Walker) and the brassy, sex-on-legs from Dixie, Dolly Parton lookalike, Charmaine (Alison Gibson). All have stayed at ‘Rose Cottage’ before and have ‘known’ – in the Biblical sense – Bud! Will his attraction to these women still be as strong?
How often do you see a play being advertised as ‘hilarious’, ‘funniest show ever’ only to find that you are lucky to get a couple of small smiles in the second act? Well this play is genuinely hilarious. The writing is very clever, the dialogue spot-on, the situation original and the delivery brilliant.
Director, Larraine Craig, has to be congratulated for the immense skill shown in helping the strong cast develop their characters, and squeeze every ounce of the fun out of the lines. The dead pan delivery of the characters added to the hilarity.
Jeannie Watkins’ wardrobe was wonderful, with the sleazy Bud’s extra long trousers, half way up his chest, to the sexy outfits.
The set was magnificent, well designed, perfectly constructed and with all of the trimmings.
The cast were perfectly tuned in; the lines flowed at a perfect pace, the delivery and body language hilarious. This wasn’t a ‘doors opening and closing farce’, but rather a very funny situation comedy with physical acting giving most of the laughs. David Heckingbottom was exceptional as Bud.
Rockingham is renowned for the very high standard of its comedies, but this must be one of their best.
A first class show at a sensible price.