IT’S ALWAYS such a pleasure to visit the Mill at Sonning, and this season is no exception.
The theatre’s latest production, It Runs in the Family, a Ray Cooney farce, is as fast and funny as they come.
So if you’re in need of any kind of medicinal comedy, you’ll find it here in spades.
For much of the evening the audience was simply helpless with laughter on review nigh, with one audience member actually squeaking with mirth.
Set in the third floor doctors’ common room of a prestigious hospital, the play follows the increasingly precarious position of senior surgeon Dr Mortimore.
The last thing any respectable medic (about to deliver the Lecture of the Year to the world’s leading physicians) wants, is the sudden re-appearance of an old flame with a big secret – especially when his wife is in the building.
Such is Dr Mortimore’s lot.
His reputation, (like some of his medical team) is dangling precariously, and he will employ every fib under the sun to save it.
As Cooney says: ‘If you’re going to tell a lie, tell a whopper.’
The Brittanica Encyclopedia defines farce as a ‘comic dramatic piece that uses highly improbable situations, stereotyped characters, extravagant exaggeration, and violent horseplay.’
All of the above apply to this show.
The story is driven largely by the fear of being found out – and we all know what that feels like.
Who among us has never done something a little bit naughty that we didn’t want others to discover?
Worrying as that may be for the guilty party, Cooney knows only too well that it’s wonderfully entertaining for everyone else.
Here, then, he takes a bad situation, makes it worse, and then, just for good measure, makes it much, much worse in the funniest possible way.
By the end of the evening the doctor’s desperate lies have resulted in the creation of one convoluted pile of wonderful nonsense after another, with half the hospital dressed up as someone else, and everyone woefully confused – especially the police sergeant.
The company – a mix of returning Mill favourites and some new faces – handles the pace and style of farce fabulously well.
Steven Pinder as Dr David Mortimore; James Bradshaw as Dr Hubert Bonney; Eric Carte as Sir Willoughby Drake; Elizabeth Elvin as Matron; Rachel Fielding as Rosemary Mortimore (the doctor’s wife); Natasha Gray as Jane Tate (the doctor’s flame), Iain Stuart Robertson as ward patient Bill, Titus Rowe as police sergeant, Francis Redfern as Leslie, and Oscar Cleaver as Dr Mike Connolly all expertly navigate their way through the story’s ever more convoluted situations, under the masterful direction of Ron Aldridge.
There’s a lightness of touch, and moments of genuine truthfulness injected into the story’s chaos, that make this show a real comic winner.
Snortingly funny it is, but Carry On drama it is not, and regulars to the Mill won’t be disappointed.
The gentleman sitting next to me said that despite having moved away from the area, he needed no arm twisting to come back for a night at the Mill with family members.
“It’s always such a lovely experience coming here, a really special night out, and the shows are always so good,” he said.
He’s not wrong.
The theatre’s accompanying meal, (no longer buffet-style but now served at the table), is still an absolute treat.
Classic dishes include steak and ale pie, confit duck, stone bass, and butternut risotto.
With plenty of attentive and friendly staff standing by, patrons won’t be kept waiting.
It Runs In The Family can be seen at The Mill at Sonning until Saturday, April 12, with performances every day except Mondays and Tuesdays.
Meals are served between 6pm and 7.15pm, with the show beginning at 8.15pm.
Saturday matinee lunch is served from noon until 1.15pm, with curtain up at 2.15pm.
Tickets include the show and a two course meal, with bread and olives on arrival, in the Mill’s beautiful grade II listed building.
Tickets cost £85 or £93.50 per person, depending on seating, with some restricted view tickets available for £63.75.
For tickets and information, visit: millatsonning.com
