When Jack, honest and upright, takes over as MD of the family furniture business, he expects to improve efficiency. But his managerial skills are no match for the wholesale fraud, deceit and theft which he uncovers in both the business and amongst his family. He soon has to succumb to blackmail because of his daughter, and this is only the first in a series of moral compromises he will have to make. Jack and his family unwittingly find themselves on a path from simple misdemeanours to murder.

Alan Ayckbourn’s blistering comedy, a riotous exposure of entrepreneurial greed is, nonetheless, a black morality play and was first presented at the National Theatre in 1987, winning  the London Evening Standard Drama Award for Best Play.

Report by:   Rhoda Fraser on Thursday 25 March 2019 (edited)
Venue:  Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond
Director:  Gregan Davis

On a very warm night RADS held their own, well done.

From the start with practically all the cast on stage for a surprise party, Gregan Davis the Director managed to skilfully position his cast as they hid in the front room of the set waiting for Jack to arrive home after his last day at work. He would then be then taking over running the family furniture business. Gregan and Brian Rogers’ set design with an upstairs level bathroom and bedroom, a downstairs hall, front room and kitchen (with working sink) made great use of the deep theatre stage, Top Marks.

Jack McCracken (Mike Walker) was the lynchpin of the play, not knowing his family were hiding in the front room Jack had his own ideas of how to celebrate with a bit of sexy role play fun with his wife, leading to riotous fun, memories of Brian Rix, we loved it. Mike has boundless energy and always keeps the action moving on. Jack's desperation on finding that his own family are fiddling the business out of more than paperclips, and then his own involvement in the plot gave us more amusement, congratulations.

Jack's wife Poppy (Sam Morrison), a new member to RADS, gave us a lovely characterisation of the supporting wife and mother, always trying to smooth things over and keep everyone happy, good stage presence I hope to see Sam again in future productions.

Ken Ayres (Doug Clayton) Poppy’s father and founder of the furniture company had just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, hence his handing over to Jack his role as chairman to the company. A gentle portrayal of the forgetfulness of this disorder, very nicely handled.

Jack and Poppy have two daughters, Tina (Melanie McCabe) and Samantha (Katrianna Torbet), both looked naturally at home on the set, Samantha particularly encompassed the moody teenager who got herself into trouble shoplifting, and later taking drugs. Tina’s husband Roy (Max Walker) was always willing to fit in with his wife's wishes, which is probably just as well as she gave the impression that she could be quite a stroppy lady if she didn’t get her own way.

So we met the character Benedict Hough (Miles Templeton) a store detective. Where do I start, what a great characterisation of a smarmy grease pot he developed to entertain us with. His false grin will haunt my dreams! He appears because of the shoplifting offence, and in the end Jack employs him to investigate the spy within the family business on the promise that the shoplifting offence will be dropped.

This leads us to finding all the family secrets. Jack's brother Cliff (Charles Lambert) has been buying the furniture at cost price and selling on to the Rivetti family, of which we see a number of the sons, all having affairs with Cliff’s wife Anita (Nicola Bryan) I am not sure how many of the brothers we saw, the programme tells me five, but I can say they were all good looking lads!! It is nice to see Charles gaining confidence with RADS and Nicola bringing the bounce of youth well done coping with those boots on the Georgian Theatre rake.

Other family members we meet are Desmond Ayres (Martin Ash) who is Poppy's brother, and his wife Harriet (Kath Torbet). Desmond, an amateur cook driving his wife into a state of dislike for any food, has been stashing his money away to follow his dream, owning a restaurant in Menorca. Martin portrayed the man watching his dream disappear well, collapsing in the kitchen with his ruined food. Kath gave us great entertainment as the twitchy, dog-loving, food-hating wife.

Yvonne (Suzy Brown) Harriet’s sister trying to add support to everyone gave warmth to her character, and must also be credited for make-up for the production.

Thank you to all the backstage crew, Stage Manager, Bev Owens, a long standing support to the drama and musical theatre groups locally, also Brian Rogers in charge of lighting and sound who must have been melting in the sound box.  There were numerous others giving support in so many ways particularly the set construction team who must have had a mammoth job, the set was splendid.

Gregan Davis as Director must have been pleased with the overall production - we enjoyed our evening with you all and the twists of the family business, culminating with the bathroom scuffle and death of the smarmy Mr Hough, well deserved applause to you all.

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