Comedy double bill by HATS Theatre Group

The Flying Doctor, written in 1645, has charm.

Young lovers Valere (Lindsey Andrews) and Lucile (Maria Holloway) are distraught because Lucile’s father wants to marry her off to a rich old man.

Fortunately Valere has a friend who conjures up a solution to their problem. James Eckersley, who plays Sganarelle, is the lynch pin of the show and frequently brings down the house.

He pretends to be a doctor and, when unmasked, becomes the doctor’s twin which means much removing and putting on of his cloak and hat.

It’s a happy ending and he reaps his reward.

In Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound, third rate theatre critics, Moon and Birdboot (Colin Baker and Adam Wright) are reporting on a third rate play We can see their expressions as they sum up the dismal performances before them.

Moon is ambitious and therefore wouldn’t dream of writing anything bad about the abysmal acting before him.

Birdboot goes even further by devising his review before the performance.

The actors they scrutinise speak in clichés in a play about a remote mansion where an escaped mad man and murderer is heading.

Eventually, Birdboot joins the thespians to answer the telephone and players and critics become entangled.

Colin Baker and Adam Wright add great humour but it is those on stage who with their melodramatic roles, make it really funny.

In these difficult productions, HATS prove they are masters of farce but I do wonder if one production would have been sufficient. Two is, perhaps, a little ambitious. Neither play is easy. They do have two directors – Gary Blair and Roy Eckersley - who work together on both which compensates.

As a reviewer I confess to having a rapport with the two critics.

Oh, and congratulations to Anita Partridge for her double sided programme.

*The double bill. at St Hugh of Lincoln Parish Hall, Glastonbury Road, Stretford, M32 9PD, finished on Saturday, September 24. . Star rating: * * *