Review of Loft Theatre Company production of Boeing Boeing (2013)

No trousers are dropped, no vicars are compromised. Of course not, this is French farce, of a kind.

In reality, it’s farce written by a French citizen, not quite the same thing in terms of style and subtlety. But before you can say Brian Rix or Ray Cooney, doors are flying open and slamming shut, glamorous girls are flitting in and out in various stages of undress, and audiences are (mostly) falling about in delight.

It’s the right sort of theatrical fare at the right time of year. Director David Hankins has recognised this and focuses on frantic pacing and crowd-pleasing cavorting. In these respects he cannot be faulted. The production belts along, the actors give their all, despite some areas of iffy casting, and there isn’t much time to notice the play’s weaknesses of construction which two translations have not overcome.

Jon Elves takes on the mantle of gullible innocence and hapless pratfalling as an old schoolmate trying to help a playboy pal solve the problems of three fiancées, all air hostesses, unexpectedly landing on him together. He does it well, all boundless energy and unerring timing.

The girls add further zest, especially Sarah Kyffin’s deliciously fiery Italian signorina and Katharine Bayley’s frisky fraulein.

It’s loud, it’s fast – and it suffers from a poorly written ending. But essentially it fits the seasonal summer bill and the Loft’s overall aim to provide a fully-rounded theatrical package across the year.

Somewhat ironically, though, a brief and cleverly conceived front-of-curtain prologue actually outshines all that follows. Nice touch (again), Mr Director...

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Peter McGarry is an experienced, independent professional theatre critic who has agreed to review Loft Theatre Company productions.

The agreement with the Loft is that Peter is free to express his opinions for good or ill. The Loft Theatre Company has no control whatsoever over the content of these reviews and will never comment publicly on what he writes.