This two hour, hilarious show by the ever-reliable Stirling Players, can be seen at the Stirling Theatre, in Morris Place, Innaloo on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights until 14^th May, with curtain up at 8.00 pm. There are also matinees on Sunday 1^st and 8^th May at 2.00 pm.

The main set is of an untidy, family home sitting room. On the apron at the side of the stage, is a Marriage Counsellor’s consulting room (Jim Chantry). There is a surprise set in the final scene (artwork Margot and Luc Watkins).

       The curtain opens to reveal a Marriage Counsellor (Jenni Glassford, continuing her everyday occupation?) chatting to a couple with marital problems. Barry (Tim Riessen) has been married happily for many years to Sally (Janet Weston – excellent), however, he has now retired and cannot understand why his domestic tasks should be increased, even though Sally is still in fulltime work.

     We flash back 3 months and find Barry languishing in his armchair, even though the room is desperately in need of cleaning. As he is reading, a young girl, Alice (Gema Seenarain) wanders into the room. He has never seen her before. It becomes clear that she is the new girlfriend of his lazy, useless son, Cameron (Steve Anderson).

      Barry and Sally’s elder daughter, Alisha (Natasha Van Odyck) is madly in love with an obsessive conservationist, James (Kieran McDonald), whilst the younger daughter, Kya (Neve Havercroft) is happy just to annoy everyone in order to get her own way.

      When Grandad Albie (Jim Chantry) arrives, Barry’s influence in the house seems to finally evaporate.

       Two other love interests are played by Melissa Skeffington and Carole Wilson – and there is little Chanel.

Few directors are capable of writing and directing their owns plays. Peter has had years of experience at both and although now proficient enough to tackle this play himself, he has recruited the help of an assistant director, Jann Rutherford.

The script was very well written, with the dialogue and attitudes of the young and old perfectly observed. I could hear the play dividing the audience, with the women commenting (during the play) ‘of course the house is dirty, men never do any housework’. Whilst the men could be heard sympathising with Barry, and commenting on the kids being glued to their mobiles.

The acting pace was superb, but although the scene changes were good, they could possibly be better planned. The fast moving stage team could carry props onto the stage when entering to clear the previous set, instead of making two journeys. On a floodlit stage, don’t worry about chair positions being correct to the centimetre. Even slowish scene changes can make it hard for the cast of a comedy to bring the pace back up.

This show was very well acted, almost the whole cast had to have ‘attitudes’, from anger to that of the 13-year-old going-on-23. Very good comedic delivery and body language. Michelle Tennant’s costumes clearly stated the personalities.

Ian Wilson’s tech design was above average, with good use of lighting and crisp, realistic, stereoscopic sound effects (operator Jane Sherwood).

This play was a huge amount of fun, very near the bone for many families, but one that I can recommend for a good night of entertainment. The script is a Peter Flanigan triumph.

The set is of a large conservatory at the rear of ‘Yew Tree House’, a limestone built retirement home in the south of England. The set has been very well designed, and decorated (Ian Wilson, Tom Brandwood, Les Farrell) complete with the comfortable outdoor furnishings (Michael Stronach, Martyn Hey) there is an air of opulence. Jan Coe supplied an admirable extra artistic prop. Ian Wilson capably handled the sound and lighting. The whole show was under the efficient control of stage manager Janet Brandwood and her assistant, Melissa Skeffington. 

        Sitting at the side of the conservatory, doing her spicy jigsaw is Freda (Ursula Johnson – absolutely delightful). Whilst she looks for the ‘naughty’ pieces, she chats away to the spirit of her late husband. Being a retired actress, Freda is known for regularly displaying indelicate hand gestures and the crudest of expressions. When the home’s nurse, Mrs Kidd (Janet Weston) hands her the account for her month’s alcohol consumption, Freda is not pleased.

       Freda’s best friend, another actress, Margot (Karin Staflund, excellent) is celebrating her 70^th birthday. As she opens her cards, a young actress, Sadie (Sandra Stoitis) arrives for advice on how to tackle the part of Juliet that she is playing in a new production. Margot recalls 40 years earlier, when she fell in love with Romeo and how she eventually married the actor – Leo Buchanan (Paul Anderson).

       As they are talking, ‘the miserable bitch’, Judy – now Lady Buchanan (Claire Westheafer) and who stole Margot’s husband from her, arrives with a birthday card that is immediately consigned to the wastepaper basket. The madcap ‘sing-a-gram’ (Peter Francisco) was also unappreciated by the guests.

       Will peace ever return to the retirement home?

      The auxiliary nurses, Frances and Robyn (Melissa Skeffington, Janet Brandwood) had more of a walk-off part, than a walk-on one.

Carole Wilson only turns her hand to directing every couple of years, but when she does she gathers a talented cast and gives great value for money.

If you have any relatives living in an old folks’ village then you will sit through the whole show with a broad grin. The script is very British, with a dry sense of humour. There are several novel turns to the story threads that caught me by surprise. The dialogue was well constructed and allowed for a very natural flow to the script, and with the superb cast who were perfectly tuned in to the comedy, the laughs kept flowing.

A good old fashioned comedy for all of the family (perhaps over 14 yrs.), well presented and greatly appreciated by the large audience.