Swansea Grand Theatre
Mon 3 – Sat 8 July
If you’re looking for the perfect post-election antidote then Out of Order needs to be at the top of your theatre list this month. Ray Cooney’s 1990s farce is proof that jokes at the expense of elected officials never get old. Just as Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey’s antics in Yes Minister are as relevant as they were over 30 years ago, Out Of Order could have been set on this spring’s campaign trail. The aptly named junior government minister Richard Willey drops his secretary into deep water in order to save his own skin. The hapless George Pigden, played by Shaun Williamson, takes the flack for his boss’s infidelity and everything else that gets thrown his way over two acts of uproarious comedy.
Cooney has been hailed as ‘the Master of Farce’ and with good reason. His plays have been a huge success in the West End where his most famous offering, Run for Your Wife, had a nine-year run. This tour promises to be a huge success with familiar faces from Only Fools and Horses and ‘Allo ‘Allo setting the comedy bar very high. Out Of Order isn’t trying to be biting political satire but with all the lies, identity crises, bed-hopping and multiple entrances and exits, it may start to feel like it.
Tickets: £15.50 – £27. Info: 01 79247 4715 /swansea.gov.uk/swanseagrandtheatre (JPD)
