Festive fun at the Exchange - You Can't Take It With You (From Northwich Guardian)

Festive fun at the Exchange - You Can't Take It With You

10:05am Tuesday 13th December 2011 in Theatre & arts By Rick Bowen

IF you spend Christmas eating your own body weight in seasonal goodies, you’ll feel well and truly ashamed after watching the Royal Exchange Theatre’s latest production.

Being performed in an association with Told By An Idiot, this is a very physical piece and the cast displays a sense of comic timing that takes the word “slick” to a whole new level.

It’s probably fair to say the visual comedy is stronger than the verbal in a play that first premiered in 1936 but, I still feel the RET has a huge hit on its hands.

Frantic and frothy, You Can’t Take It With You even has a heart warmer of an ending, something we all crave at this particular time of year.

Alice Sycamore comes from a family who are, to put it bluntly, plain bonkers. So the foundations are in place for some hilarious scenes when her boyfriend, Tony Kirby, and his up tight parents are invited to dinner. The Kirbys are the walking talking embodiment of the American dream while Alice’s crazy clan are their guests worst nightmare.

Director Paul Hunter has coaxed memorable performances from Sophie Russell as the ballet obsessed Essie and Miltos Yerolemou as her fiery tutor, Boris Kolenkhov. Martin Hyder undergoes a very convincing transformation as Tony’s money driven father. Good clean fun and a masterclass in visual comedy.

* Until January 14. The box office is on 0161 833 9833. Star rating - ***