RELATIVELY SPEAKING

WHERE: Church Hall, Quarndon.

WHEN: Tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday, November 28.

TICKETS: £6.

BOX OFFICE: 01332 553982.

IT'S hard enough for amateur companies to put on a show in these cost-conscious days, but Quarndon Amateur Dramatic Society are really pushing the boat out. Two shows alternating over consecutive days is a tall order for anyone but on the evidence of what I saw last night it's a brilliant ploy to get people in to see good plays well performed.

We're in classic Alan Ayckbourn territory with Relatively Speaking. Greg (Simon Carr) is besotted with his girlfriend, Ginny (Clare Hale), although there's some reluctance on her part for him to meet her mother and father.

Greg's suspicions are further roused by dodgy phone calls, a flat full of flowers and the constant delivery of chocolates – not to mention the incriminating, size-10 slippers found under her bed.

As Ginny heads off to the country to see her "parents", Greg thinks this is the perfect opportunity to meet them himself and sets off to follow her.

Arriving first at The Willows, Greg wastes no time in asking the owners, Sheila and Philip (Marilyn Pendlebury and James Bereton), for what he thinks to be their "daughter's" hand-in-marriage. It is of such stories great farce and social comment is made.

Played in the round at the Church Hall this is a great production from a uniformly excellent cast.

Bereton's blustering Philip is a veritable joy to be behold. The lines are sharp, the interplay exemplary and the whole premise perfectly satisfying.

If a great night out at the theatre is what you expect, then try to catch this.

If the same standard is achieved by Daphne du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel, with which it alternates, Quarndon are truly blessed with a talented crew.

The group have certainly given us an early Christmas present.

Andy Potter

Quarndon Amateur Dramatic Society also present My Cousin Rachel tonight, Thursday and Saturday, November 29. A ticket for both plays is £10.