On a trip to France for a vintage car rally, four friends convene in a farmhouse - only two of them bring plus ones, making for a comedy of manners that speeds along as fast as any rally car.
A lecherous English toff and his over-protective whirlwind of a wife are the hosts of this meet up with their old friends, a bumbling deb throwback from the 1920s and a dressed-up cockney ‘what done good’ in a better class of friends. They bring a butch Australian female biker and a coquettish French Mademoiselle along with them. With highly animated performances and a touch or two of Allo Allo, the work is a frenzy of double entendres and tomfoolery, though it could do with being longer and having a clearer ending.
Amusing in its style and rambunctiousness, it was slightly unclear what time period the play was set in. The younger characters were more modern whilst the older roles could easily have appeared off the pages of an Evelyn Waugh novel. However, despite that vagueness, being greeted with a drink and accordion music provided a lovely setting for the play and a novel touch which let everyone feel included.
Performed with gusto, a slightly slower pace from the pole position would have helped the script sink in more easily. On the whole this is a good effort and an evening of cheerful fun that - with some re-working - will really be first past the post.
