Habeas Corpus

This should go down in their annals as one of Villanova’s greatest successes. Habeas Corpus is proof again there can be fully professional-standard productions in community theatres.

Playwright Bennett is a brilliant comedy wordsmith; his mastery of English knows no bounds. When a company as competent as this one assembled by Brisbane veteran of theatre, Brian Cannon, is given the chance to explore its full comedy potential, the result can be unfettered laughter from start to finish. And it was!

Cannon’s canny casting meant there wasn’t a weak link among the eleven performers. Everyone mined Bennett’s maniacal mirth possibilities and struck paydirt:

Trevor Bond (Dr Wicksteed) and Jane Sizer (Mrs Swabb) led the laugh charges and their troop emulated their efforts: Jill Cross (Mrs Muriel Wicksteed, the doctor’s wife); Alex Walsh (Dennis, their hypochondriac son); Helen Ekundayo (Connie Wicksteed, the doctor’s spinster sister); Cameron Gaffney (Canon Throbbing); Chris Sibley (Lady Rumpers) and Olivia Pinwill (her daughter, Felicity); Nick Nield (Sir Percy Spender, head of the British Medical Association); Bill Bassett (a bosom-enhancer fitter); and Patrick Leo (a determined suicider who doesn’t want to do it without his doctor’s approval).

I rarely leave a theatre with aching ribs and stomach muscles ­– I did in this case. I suspect most of the audience did also.

Images (from top): Mrs Swabb [Jane Sizer]; Connie Wicksteed [Helen Ekundayo] tells Canon Throbbing [Cameron Gaffney] to get on his bike, and whole cast.

Jay McKee