Tom, Dick and Harry

The Adelaide Repertory Theatre has chosen a ‘cracker’ of a comedy to finish the year off. Directing this British farce is veteran performer and award winning director Ian Rigney. Farce can be a challenge to direct as pace and timing are vital to the flow of the plot, but Rigney’s wealth of experience shows as this play rockets along from one side splitting gag to another.

Playwright Ray Cooney is a veteran of over 24 plays and wrote this particular gem with his screenwriter son Michael in 2003. The action takes place at the Kensington home of Tom and Linda Kerwood, who are preparing for a visit from Mrs Potter from the adoption agency. As Linda, played nicely by Lana Adamuszek, anxiously flits about preparing the home for their visitor she is coaching her equally nervous husband Tom in the rules of parenthood. All is going along quite nicely until Linda pops out to buy some flowers. In her absence we are introduced to Tom’s brothers Dick and Harry, brought to life by David Salter and Matt Houston; crazy misfits whose hare-brained schemes, although well-intentioned, rain havoc on the responsible Tom and Linda. Salter and Houston were cast very well, their attention to detail meant every punchline was hit with much appreciation from a vocal audience. Straight-laced Tom, played by James Edwards, is a needed contrast to his wayward brothers. His frustration at his sibling’s attempts to help becomes manic as he tries to restore calm to an increasingly muddled plot.  

As each new character emerges, so too begins another hilarious web of lies. Glenn Vallen has fun as the drunken, Trumpet playing, non-English speaking grandfather, Andreas, while Tamara Bennetts is bursting with enthusiasm in her role as his granddaughter, Katerina. Stanley Tuck plays the curious local Constable Downs, who is forever trying to make sense of the chaos he has encountered. Penny Hamilton-Smith plays the stern Mrs Potter, a woman with little patience for the shenanigans she witnesses,with authority; add in gangster Boris, played by John Koch, and you would be forgiven for thinking you were witnessing several plays concurrently.

With a set and costumes that were fitting of the time and a well-lit performing space, the cast do justice to this ambitious tale. If you can forgive the absurdity of the plot twists then this show is sure to tickle the funny bone.

Kerry Cooper

Photographer: Norm Caddick.