A triumph - See How They Run at the Garrick (From Northwich Guardian)

A triumph - See How They Run at the Garrick

10:27am Tuesday 29th November 2011 in Theatre & arts By Rick Bowen

FARCES tend to leave me cold but See How They Run, Altrincham Garrick’s latest production, is in a different class.

With its slick wit and well drawn characters, Philip King’s breathless comedy is a hoot from beginning to end.

It’s just what we need in these days of doom and gloom and if Celia Bonner’s expertly staged production doesn’t make you laugh, you must have had a sense of humour bypass.

A country vicarage, quintessentially English, turns into a madhouse populated by a battered and bruised cleric, the village battleaxe who has been plied with booze and an escaped German prisoner of war, to name just three.

This is, for me, one of the best comedies the Garrick has ever put on, with the cast displaying a sense of timing that the professionals would admire.

Singling out individual performances for praise seems unfair as there aren’t any bad ones. But David Leathlean is perfect as the Reverend Lionel Toop, an old school clergyman who’d be in heaven when offered tea and cucumber sandwiches. Laura Chandler is excellent as his actress wife Penelope and there’s a really strong chemistry between her and Trevor McKie, who plays her former acting buddy, Lance-Corporal Clive Winton. Steve Williamson really does look like a man at the end of his tether as the stressed to the hilt Bishop of Lax. Great fun, a triumph. * Until December 3. The box office is on 0161 928 1677. Star rating - *****