REVIEW: No Sex Please..We're the Leighton Buzzard Drama Group!
Group score a hit with saucy sex romp.
YOU can't go wrong with a saucy sex romp. If the risqu plot doesn't bring on a dose of the convulsions then the double entendres certainly will.
The 1970s were the golden age of ever so slightly smutty humour with the Carry On films and the Confessions Of series but on stage there was one play that reigned supreme – No Sex Please, We're British.
It was phenomenally successful running for 16 years in the West End and it has since become the staple diet of am-dram groups around the country.
The Leighton Buzzard Drama Group dropped their trousers and their inhibitions when they staged the titillating comedy at Leighton's Library Theatre and it was obvious from the start that the cast were having as much fun on stage as we were in the audience.
Of course it was very much a period piece and impossible to update but the nostalgia was hugely welcomed.
Newly weds Frances and Peter Hunter set up home above a bank where the groom worked.
To make a spot of extra cash the young bride answered an advert and buys a consignment of Swedish glassware and ceramics...but when the parcels started arriving from the import company it appears she had her hands full of Swedish porn!
In today's liberal climate no-one would think twice about the scenario but in the 1970s there was a less tolerant attitude especially from establishment figures like Peter's seemingly straight-laced bank manager boss and Frances' mother-in-law from hell.
There were laughs a plenty, not only from the odd couple Frances and Peter – she a sexy young minx and he, a rather dull mummy's boy – but in particular from Peter's chief cashier, and the world's most boring man, Brian Runnicles.
Brian, much against his will, is charged with getting rid of the offending material with it leading him from one bizarre situation to another.
Stuart Rourke was a hoot as the deadpan Brian, seemingly having borrowed Trigger's voice from Only Fools and Horses for the character.
Stuart stole the play. From attempting to fish porn photos out of a toilet with a garden trowel (don't ask!) to throwing a parcel of blue movies onto a truck heading for a charity auction Brian could do no right while Stuart could do no wrong.
Lauren Stanley, making her dbut in a play, performed the crumpet part
in sexy silk kimono and looked the business.
Goodness knows what Frances was doing marrying a boring banker like Peter (an authoritative performance by Russell Bennett).
There was the inevitable trouser-dropping scene, plus the appearance of two very naughty young ladies of the night and a lot of manic hair-pulling and hand-wringing as the farce got into its stride and chaos ensued.
Director Colin Aldous did a great job preserving the original integrity of the original production while making it just as silly, ribald and appealing to modern audiences.
*There's still chance to see the show. LBDG is taking the production to the Chrysalis Theatre, Japonica Lane, Willan Park South, Milton Keynes, for three nights from this Thursday to Saturday.
Next up from the LBDG is a thriller, Murder By The Book, running from September 24-26.
For information call the box office 01582 818801 or check the group's website www.lbdg.org.uk
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Weather for Leighton Buzzard
Wednesday 08 February 2012
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