I was very excited about the prospect of this production as I saw the original and the amateur rights have only just become available. It’s now on everyone else’s season for next year but I believe Tower got there first, at least in London!

It is often debated whether it is more a Panto or Entertainment rather than a play as it was written very much with the original star James Corden in mind with all of the usual Panto and farce staples of mistaken identity, audience participation, girls dressed as boys, doorways, stairways and a lot of prat falls. The storyline is loosely based on A Servant of Two Masters by Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni in 1746 but Richard Bean cleverly places it in the 1960’s Brighton of gangsters and rock and roll.

Francis Henshall is hired by notorious Roscoe Crabbe to be his muscle, even though Francis admits ‘it’s just fat!’ He really is more of an eater than a fighter, although he also has an eye for the ladies. However he’s not very bright to the point that he doesn’t catch on that his ‘guvnor’ is actually Rachel, Roscoe’s (not identical!) twin sister trying to meet up with her lover Stanley who is on the run from the police because he accidently murdered Roscoe in self-defence. Rachel tries to extort owed money from Charlie Clench, another gangster by pretending to be her horrible and feared brother who was engaged to marry for convenience, ‘Charlie’s not-too-bright daughter Pauline, who has now fallen in love with would-be-actor Alan Dangle whose father Harry is Charlie’s sneaky lawyer. Then Stanley shows up and also hires Francis to be his messenger and minder which of course would be great except that Francis fully admits he confuses easily. Throw in Dolly, Charlie’s smart and sassy, man-eating bookkeeper who takes a fancy to Francis; Lloyd, a Jamaican criminal who owns a trendsetting pub – that does food! And is the only one who recognises Rachel; add a couple of clownish waiters and you have all the elements of a missed opportunities, boys meet girls, lose girls, get girls, fall down a lot, laugh a lot despite your brain telling you not to - farce!

The set by Jude Chalk, which needs to be so many different places was cleverly crammed into the small Gatehouse space. The costumes by Sheila Burbidge and David Taylor were all perfect for the times and evoked the fun and silliness of the sixties. Even the scene changes were fun with members of the cast taking our attention by lip-syncing to well-known chart hits of the time. My only disappointment was that two came out twice as I was really looking forward to the sight of John Chapman or Julian Farrance having a go at some Matt Monroe or Dean Martin! Lighting and Sound by Robin Snowdon and Ruth Sullivan were as always fitting and creative in such a space. I was impressed at the timing of the execution of some of the effects as it had to be spot-on in such a fast paced romp.

Director Dan Usztan has created a company who worked together so well and appeared to be having so much fun, I almost felt I was intruding on a private party, except they were so welcoming you couldn’t help but be drawn in. The star of the show is of course Mark Macey as Francis, as he is rarely off the stage and when he is it’s a full speed ahead, ad-libbing with the audience, Irish dancing, prat falling and moulding his mouth around alliterative word-game routines which would have taxed Abbott and Costello. At first I thought he was doing a vocal imitation of Corden, although with exceeding charm, energy and warmth. But having watched a bit of Corden’s performance again, I realise that Mr Macey has actually made the part very much his own. In fact his cheeky chappy was much more charming and likeable than the original. His delightful surprise at the positive effect of his flirting with Lisa Castle as Dolly was a joy and the banter between these two was a delight. I fully believed he had found the perfect woman to take him firmly in hand in any way he wished and probably a few he didn’t but he would still fully enjoy and comply forever!

They were ably supported by the rest of the cast including Edwin de la Renta who was good fun but far too young for the role of Lloyd to whom ‘Rachel was like a daughter’ but this was a very minor quibble. John Chapman (also Assistant Director) as Harry Dangle was suitably oily and pompously charming. James Phillips as Stanley in his Tower debut was ridiculously adorable with his long and loose-limbed 60’s Oxbridge idiocy; a cross between Hugh Laurie’s Bertie Wooster, a very young John Cleese and a dash of Matt Smith’s Dr Who at his most manic. Adam Moulder and Camilla Fox as Alan and Pauline were delightfully daft and wide-eyed innocents. Richard Kirby as various coppers, passers-by and the head waiter Gareth with Andy Barrett as Alfie, the ninety year old pace-maker wearing, pratfalling waiter (despite very odd age makeup which didn’t quite work for me) were good value and again highlighted the hard work and cohesion of this ensemble.

However, the absolute revelations for me were Jennifer Quinn as Rachel and Julian Farrance as Charlie. Having seen both of these always very able performers in the past, usually well-spoken and fairly serious, it was a thrilling and hilarious surprise to see them both transformed into gruff speaking, deep throated, tough posturing East End gangsters. Jennifer especially, had the difficult job of transforming from her usual attractive young self into Roscoe with virtually no makeup (brave!), a fabulously well-fitted wig (hiding a lot of blonde hair which could not have been easy!) and constantly flitting back and forth vocally and emotionally into Rachel while still dressed as Roscoe! And finally managing one of the fastest complete changes I’ve ever seen into sixties’ make-up complete with false eyelashes, frock and the release of that hair, into a classic sixties’ party-girl.

So in summary; this production fully deserved to sell out on several of its performances. I truly wanted to enjoy it and I was not disappointed. Well done to all.