AMATEUR THEATRE REVIEW: Business Affairs - Wigan Little Theatre, Wigan.

Wigan Little Theatre is quite unusual for a small, amateur theatre. The auditorium has two wide aisles and a gallery and the stage is very wide. The bar area has the feel and spaciousness of a social club and even the foyer has a feeling of openness. All this helps explain why this theatre group has built up a loyal following as an important part of Wigan community life, helped perhaps by the patronage of local boy Ian McKellen.

The wide stage lent itself to the setting of a large suite in a posh London hotel, giving the feel of a typical '70’s West End comedy; think of the likes of ‘Not Now, Darling’, ‘Out Of Order’ or ‘No Sex Please, We’re British.’. The character types also came from the same genre; the be-suited businessmen, their upright wives, the stereotype amusing foreigners and the surprise call girls. To complete the formula, the writers were Jeremy Lloyd of ‘Are You Being Served' fame and John Lloyd, a frequent collaborator with the great Ray Cooney. All the ingredients were here for a Whitehall-style farce.

The casting was good with the bearded or moustachioed businessmen, Stanley and Norman, played by Mark Lloyd and Joe Wiswell, both emanating quintessential down-to-earth Northern characteristics. Their wives Hilda and Rose played by Amada Leamon and Nicola Reynold were suitably supportive and aspirational with the right amount of British reserve. All this of course was meant to contrast with the ‘foreigners’ Kurt, the German played by Darran Robertson and Sven, the Swede, played by Chris Roberts.

‘Allo Allo’ was given a run for its money when it came to packing in every possible cliché and stereotype regarding different nationalities, the targets here being the free-loving Swedes, the boisterous Germans and the standoffish Brits. Both the two Nordics amusingly interspersed familiar national words with their English whilst feeling at home in casual clothing or at times hardly any clothes at all. In this age of wokeness and offence typically given at any attempt to find humour in anything from other cultures, this was refreshing to see. Sven even wore a Viking helmet, not to mention Swedish flag knickers whilst Kurt seemed content to prance around in a towel; how German! Add to this the eye candy in the form of the scantily-clad call girls Sabrina played by Beth Garner and Valerie played by Kitti Dixon and the audience was transported back to the 1970s when comedy reigned supreme over political correctness and restrictions on what can be joked about. The call girls had been hired to help ease the would-be buyers into signing the deal but hey; whoever said this was a feminist play?

There were two downsides. One was that being near the back row, it was difficult often to clearly hear what the actors were saying, possibly needing to project a little more. The main factor however was frankly the play itself. The writing provided frequent laughs that the audience appreciated but the pace was more akin to a comedy rather than a farce. The entrances were all leisurely and that there was relatively little physical action. Think of something like ‘Fawlty Towers’ or ‘Noises Off’ and there was no running about in panic or things going drastically wrong with this play. The set –up was clearly meant to be that of a farce but the right amount of tension was just not there. Whilst the characters got into some sticky situations, there never enough sense of danger or panic for a genuine farce situation to truly exist. The juxtapositions of the character types worked but the writers never seemed to allow themselves free-reign to create a sense of mayhem.

The audience clearly enjoyed ‘Business Affairs’ and the cast obviously enjoyed performing it. The stage was used to full advantage with an impressive set and the cast performed well. Whilst not perhaps a fast-pace farce, ‘Business Affairs’ was certainly an enjoyable comedy, if not a classic.

Reviewer - John Waterhouse
on - 8.3.23