A Small Mind At The Theatre

Funny Faces written by Steve Dimmer and presented by Next Page Productions bring to life an hour in the life of two British comedy icons of yesteryear. We are in a props room and then a dressing room where Joan Sims and Sid James respectively chat with us like we are occupying one dusty, cobwebbed corner of the room. The first of the evenings solo shows is titled SIMply Joan and stars Caroline Nash. For those of a certain age, Joan Sims is and always will be the Carry On star, and while my memory of these films is fairly prominent in my mind as well, despite the series finished by the time I was around, my biggest memory of Sims comes more curiously from a role in a BBC sitcom starring Dennis Waterman titled On The Up . In this, Sims played the rather posh Mrs Wembley, who was rather fond of a tipple or two, with her show catchphrase of "Just one more" a regular feature. It is apt that I recall my own memory of Sims here, as the shadow of drink hangs over the life of ...

The subtitle of Calling For Help is Man Vs Mother-In-Law, however I can't help but think that this is a slight disservice to this genuinely entertaining and fun play. That subtitle brings up connotations of wicked little Bob Monkhouse or Les Dawson jokes, whereas in reality the family relationship portrayed between the characters Rachel and Sean is really rather sweet. The versus bit really comes mostly from the machinations of the call centre business, where much of the play is set. We are first witness to Rachel (Caroline Nash) and Sean (Oli Leonard) long before the play gets underway. Rachel is stalking around the theatre and bar area with Sean kept at heel, welcoming the other call centre staff, us. For this is indeed an interactive play, indeed one of the most I have yet experienced. As the play progresses, the scenes within in the call centre always involve in some way the audience. Selected members of the audience even get given a name via a lanyard with badge and a design...