Robert Tanitch reviews See How They Run at Richmond Theatre, Surrey.
The great farces of the 20th century are Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, Peter Shaffer’s Black Comedy and John Cleese and Connie Booth’s Fawlty Towers. The great farceurs of the 20th century are Ben Travers, Brian Rix and Ray Cooney.
Philip King’s See How They Run, despite its reputation as a modern classic, is not in this league.
The farce opened during January 1945 during World War 2. Three doodle bugs dropped on the West End during the premiere. George Gee, the leading actor, complained they ruined three of his best laughs. The cast included Joan Hickson as the half-witted maid and Joan Sanderson as a tweedy spinster. The production ran for 589 performances and then played in practically every rep in the UK and all over the world.
A country vicarage full of real and bogus clergy in wartime Britain clearly has farcical possibilities but they are not fully realised. The vicar is married to an actress who decides to have dinner in town with a lance-corporal, a former actor and boy friend. He borrows the vicar’s clothes so that he can get out of uniform and beat the ban on town visits for soldiers. Meanwhile a German POW has escaped from a local camp….
The comedy, says the handbill for this touring production, will be “heightened” by the fact that the cast are all under four feet tall.
The production is acted by The Reduced Height Theatrical Company which has been launched by Warwick Davies, Britain’s most successful short actor, whom many of you will have seen in Star Wars, Willow, Harry Potter and Life’s Too Short
Davies has for a long time wanted to appear in plays he has enjoyed watching. Realizing that no such offer might ever come his way he has decided to cast himself in his own production. He has his own theatrical agency which promotes short and tall actors so he is able to tap into a lot of talented people who have not had the opportunities he has had.
The actors work very hard in Eric Potts’ production but the play constantly lets them down and they all end up shouting far too much.
It would be interesting to see The Reduced Height Theatrical Company in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by an experienced Shakespearian director. Davies would be a wonderful bully Bottom, the weaver. The three worlds – fairy, rustics and court- would work perfectly.
See How They Run is in the middle of a 12-week tour and will visit High Wycombe, Derby, Plymouth, Darlington, Manchester and Cardiff.
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