Relatively Speaking brings the sixties to The Watermill

Relatively Speaking, Alan Ayckbourn’s comedy of mistaken identities, has just opened at The Watermill Theatre. If last night’s show was anything to go by Orla O’Loughlin’s production will be delighting packed houses for the next six weeks.

Greeted by a sunlit 1960s flat as you enter the theatre, you are instantly immersed in the period and transported from the cold February night to the warm summer’s day of the piece.

The first scene establishes Greg and Ginny as a young couple and hints at an additional entanglement of Ginny’s. When Greg decides (uninvited) to follow Ginny to her parents’ in the country hilarity ensues....

As is often the case at The Watermill the ingeniously designed set does amazing things with a limited amount of stage space, morphing from the flat in to a sunny garden terrace.

The cast of four are uniformly strong- again something you can pretty much guarantee here. Particularly impressive were Greg Haiste as Greg, who draws laughs without speaking a word and Gillian Bevan who casually plays Sheila’s scene stealing lines to perfection. David Acton, who regular audiences may remember from Copenhagen, captures the pathetic middle aged man all too convincingly and a beautifully curvy Ellie Bevan completes the cast as Ginny, the mini-dress wearing eye candy of the show.

Relatively Speaking will leave you feeling warmer on a cold winter’s night- and if you remember the sixties you’ll probably enjoy it all the more.

Relatively Speaking is at The Watermill Theatre until March 26th.

Picture by Philip Tull.