THIS SHOW HAS CLOSED

LOOK
NO
HANS

DRAMATIS PERSONAE Fisher ... Kenton Church Kurt ... Garry Ball Heidi ... Jenny Almond Monica ... Debbie Miles Cadwallader ... Jesse Powis Mitzi ... Ruth Cramphorn Tregunter-Jones ... Clare Johnson Director ... Vince Webb

REVIEWS/NOTES Look No Hans! had all the ingredients of a typical farce; multiple entrances/exits, mistaken identities, manic behaviour, spiked drinks, a twisting plot and a wonderful bonus – scantily clad young ladies. The set was superb, as usual with CTW when they use the stage, and the technical aspects of the production –the timing of the intercom and walkie-talkie, the entrances and exits, the filing cabinet with a mind of its own – were all spot on. This was a hugely enjoyable play with some great one-liners, some exceptionally funny “business” and some mini-scenes that were modern classics. I particularly liked the mangled “Germish” over the phone when trying to untangle the swapped bouquets. Indeed Peter Fisher was played magnificently well, with pace, energy, good comic timing, plenty of bodily and facial expression and good attention to detail. He certainly hit the jackpot with his mistress, Heidi and his birthday present, Mitzi, both of whom played their roles with confidence and an absence of self-consciousness, despite Mitzi being blessed with looks and no brains. This is the closest I have ever been to a seeing a naked chef! Fisher’s wife, Monica, was authoritative in Act One and showed a wonderful comic side to her personality when she thought Cadwallader was the butler. Tregunter Jones captured the androgynous female engineer well and Cadwallader was at his best when the action was frantic. Cadwallader was ponderous and dry and had a great drawling middle class accent expected of senior detectives but the interplay between Cadwallader and Fisher occasionally slowed the action too much and the audience had time to wonder what was going on. This may have been a question of searching for words; if so there is little to be said but if not then perhaps Cadwallader should have been a little more overtly naďve or slow on the uptake. This would have allowed him to stare into space and look pensive/puzzled rather more than he did. The comparison between Cadwallader and the Inspector in Loot is instructive, since there was an example of a slow-witted man taking charge and extracting maximum laughs from his absurdities. Cadwallader did not have such good lines and Look No Hans is no satire but there may have been more opportunity to milk even more humour from the ridiculous antics going on around him. The development of the facial tics, difficult to do I imagine, would also have been more visible and perhaps should have been switched on earlier in the play. But these are minor details and did not detract from what was a fun start to the festive season. Reviewer – Stewart Adkins (NODA) Look No Hans’ is a classic farce, weaving a tale of espionage, mistaken identity, strippers, spies and bad cars into a rich tapestry of door-opening, mistress-hiding, omelette-making mayhem. Directed by funny man Vince Webb, ably assisted by the lovely Raynor Hendon-Bragg, this was a thoroughly enjoyable romp through the bad cars and (bad puns) that dominate the life of Peter Fisher, the main protagonist. The Friday night crowd that I was part of certainly seemed to be getting into the spirit of the whole thing, with a great deal of guffawing and laughing to be heard throughout…and in some cases, squeals, cheers and wolf-whistle! So, to begin with, the set was perfect for the play, providing many doors for people to come and go through. The furniture and fittings all worked well and included a very bad tempered filing cabinet, akin to Arkwright’s evil till from Open All Hours. The cabinet itself contributed to much hilarity with its excellent comic timing (kudos to the human behind it). The cast were Kenton Church as Peter Fisher, giving us a spectacularly funny, Basil Fawlty-esque performance. Such an important part to get right and Kenton did so admirably, holding together the whole thing very well indeed. And a very warm welcome to the CTW fold to Kenton. The part of Cadwallader was played by Jesse Powis, thankfully not having to hang any witches this time around. Following on from his turn in The Crucible, Jesse gave us a very funny and memorable performance, bouncing off of Kenton and, in particular, Debbie Miles as Monica, excellently. Debbie again proved what a talented comic actress she is with a truly splendid performance as Monica, Peter’s long-suffering wife, who has a secret of her own. She brought the house down with the best line of the show and continually lifted the play with her perfect timing of lines. Jenny Almond and Ruth Cramphorn were the ‘other women’ in Fishers life, adding many complications to an already complicated plot. Both got (well deserved) cheers when they graced the stage, dressed like lingerie models. Jenny, treading the (creaky) CTW boards for the first time, turned in a well timed and very funny performance as Heidi, Fisher’s German mistress who is determined to distract him as much as possible, so a very well done to Ms Almond. Ruth was the feisty, egg-breaking Mitzi, a tart-with-a-heart and poor culinary skills. Again, another funny, well performed role. Clare Johnson played Tregunter-Jones, a character with a severe case of mistaken identity. This marked Clare’s debut with CTW and did so with some funny moments. And finally, we had Garry Ball’s vocal talents as Kurt, doing his best ‘Allo ‘Allo German impression. Well timed delivery and very funny lines rounded off the whole thing perfectly. Overall, I enjoyed this show immensely. It was very well directed and performed, although on a very few occasions some lines were missed due to the audience laughing so hard at the previous ones, and on the night I went one character seemed to be having a few off moments. But, minor quibbles aside this was an excellent show and did CTW proud. The whole audience enjoyed it (and it was pretty darn near full to the rafters too that night, hurrah!). So a big well done to the cast and crew. Jo Poole Farce is hard graft. You have to point the lines, sell the jokes, handle the props, fake the prat-falls and further the plot. Look No Hans, a twenty year old but far from classic farce, was dragged into the 21st century in a pacy production by Vince Webb. But this was a "present" when they had laptops but no mobiles, the Iron Curtain but not the Berlin Wall. But the plot hardly matters when there are spies, counter-spies and women in various stages of undress popping in and out of the three doors, one French window and a corridor. Kenton Church worked his socks off as the manic Fisher, victim of the filing cabinet and the whims of fate, well matched by Jesse Powis as his irascible superior. Ruth Cramphorn was Mitzi the stripper, Jenny Almond Heidi the maid, >nd both Clare Johnson and Debbie Miles delivered their daft dialogue well as even less plausible characters. Garry Ball's was the voice from the intercom. David Jason and the original company would have had weeks, even months, of touring the provinces before they arrived in the Strand. Chelmsford Theatre Workshop did well to achieve the polish they did on a chilly first night. I'm not sure the show was worth the effort, though. Michael Gray