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Review by David Munro
ROBERTSON Hare in his autobiography Yours Indubitably
wrote that he enjoyed playing in Rookery Nook more
than any other of the Ben Travers' comedies.
Whilst his view may, perhaps, have been tinged by the fact that
this was his first great success, nonetheless Rookery Nook
is a very bright and light-hearted play that wears its 79 years
(it was first produced in 1926) well.
The plot, if plot there be in an inconsequential play such as
this, concerns the efforts of a newly married young man about
town to aid a young girl who has run away from her guardian in
the middle of the night, clad only in a pair of pink pyjamas.
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There is an officious female neighbour,
a demented domestic, a henpecked husband and a young male cousin
who add complications and hamper his efforts to obtain more suitable
clothes and conceal her presence in the house.
All of which produces the inevitable farcical dashing in and
out of rooms, misunderstandings and eventual happy resolution
of all difficulties.
An amusing summer evening's entertainment presented by a young
and eager cast who rush around the stage and almost make one believe
that they believe in what they are doing.
If you are prepared for a couple of hours of frothy fun, then
this is the play for you. Hamlet it ain’t.
Rookery Nook by Ben Travers.
Directed by Dominic Dromgoole.
Designer – Jess Curtis.
Lighting – Chris Ellis.
Sound –Fergus O’Hare.
CAST: Nicole Alexis; Fiona Battisby; Benjamin Davies; John Dougall;
Richard Henders; William Mannering; Jane Murphy; Rhiannon Oliver;
Susan Porrett.
Presented by Oxford Stage Company
Richmond Theatre, The Green, Richmond, Surrey TW9 IQJ
Tues, Aug 2 – Sat. 6th, 2005
Evenings 7.45pm
Matinees Wed. & Sat. 2.30pm
Box Office: 0870 060 6651
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