Cash on Delivery

Cash on Delivery is a typical British farce of its time. It’s fast, funny – and based on a scam that is not as improbable today as it might have been in 1996 when the play was first produced. Why? Its protagonist, Eric Swan, is a con artist who has been defrauding the government by claiming multiple welfare benefits for some years. Sound familiar?

But, as is right, the authorities are on to him! An investigator arrives – and as Eric tries to escape through a seemingly bottomless rabbit hole, chaos ensues.

Ian Fletcher directs this production with an eye to detail as well as the pace and panic that the genre requires. Farces are challenging, especially when they involve character changes, mistaken identities, cross dressing, pratfalls and slamming doors as well as a weather event and a wayward washing machine… as this play does.

Fletcher has faced the challenges with flair – and preparation. His set design has all the quirks demanded by the script. The action is fast, the timing excellent, especially as Eric himself begins to spiral out of control. And Fletcher has also ensured that the “colourful characters” who add to the chaos are more than stereotypes.

Eric is played by Elliott Prophet, who, in his first lead role, makes Eric everything from deceptive and conniving to panicky and petrified. He sustains a continuing increase in edginess and a rise in pace that becomes almost frenetic. This is a difficult role and Prophet makes it totally believable.

Kayla Austin plays Linda, Eric’s hard-working wife who’s just a bit nervy – and becomes increasingly more so when she comes home to a house full of strange people and even stranger goings on. Austin makes Linda frustrated and agitated as events – and Eric – become very confusing.

The Swans have a lodger, Norman Bassett, who gets caught up in the mayhem of Eric’s attempted evasions. Lesh Satchithananda, as Bassett, attacks that mayhem with enthusiastic vigour, running in and out of doors, up and down stairs … and in and out characters … with energetic ease. Satchithananda has a good feel for comedy and an athleticism that lends itself to comic trips and falls.

The welfare inspector, Mr Jenkins, is played by Darren Gibson, who arrives ready to worm out the scammer. But he’s beset by a series of stories fabricated by Swan and perpetuated by a very unwilling but manipulated Bassett. As the stories get more and more involved and more and more implausible, the action gets faster – and more characters are introduced …

There’s a bereavement counsellor, played with earnest empathy, conscientious concern – and perfect, perplexed pauses – by Nicole Smith.

There’s Eric’s Uncle George, played with extraordinary energy, conscientious complicity – and truly, terrific timing – by Mark Prophet.

There’s a psychiatrist played with serious sincerity, sympathetic sensitivity and eye-blinking embarrassment – by Aurel Vasilescu.

There’s an undertaker played with melancholy manner, sad solemnity – and dismal dignity – by Ken Fletcher.

There’s Mr Jenkins’ boss played with appropriate authority, pretentious pomposity – and righteous reactions – by Rhonda Hancock.

And there’s Norman’s fiancée played with preppy pertness, feisty fury – and bubbly buoyancy – by Rebecca Fletcher.

These roles could have been played as caricatures, but Fletcher has given his actors space and time to add depth, dimension and a little bit of chutzpah to each of the characters.

That insight and vision, along with committed rehearsing and carefully practised timing, has resulted in a production that is true to all the features of farce – fast, funny, plausibly implausible – and thoroughly entertaining. What a shame it plays for such a short time!

Carol Wimmer