Review: Family farce gets lots of laughs

My Inlaws are Outlaws - Detour Theatre

Think you've got trouble with the inlaws? Try swapping places with Annie. Hers are out to kill her. Susi Jansen is perfectly cast as the mild-mannered librarian who is taken home by her husband Dane (Glen Morris) to meet the gangster relatives she didn't know she had.

After facing up to formidable matriarch and mother-in-law Audrey (Allison Stewart), Annie is shocked to find herself confronting Natalya (Sandra Saller), a sinister Russian assassin who has been hired by the family to bump her off.

The two strike up an unlikely alliance when they realise that a second would-be murderer, in the shape of Italian mercenary Rosa Botticello (Jane McKenna), has in turn been engaged to get rid of Natalya.

When Annie unintentionally polishes off Rosa by "frying" her pacemaker, her friendship with Natalya is confirmed.

But Detour playwright and director Devon Williamson's enjoyable comedy turns into pure farce as Irish killers Finn O'Reilly (played by Williamson himself) and his dim-witted son Donal (Glen Morris again) join the merry mayhem.

Complaining that practically a whole United Nations of professional murderers appears to have been brought in to deal to her, the resourceful Annie surprisingly succeeds in outsmarting them all.

Williamson has made a name for himself as a comedy writer - last year's production of The Old People Are Revolting played to full houses at Detour - and his latest offering brought plenty of laughter on Thursday's opening night.

A strong cast, which also includes Philippa Powell, playing Dane's none-too-bright sister Desiree, and the remarkable 84-year-old June Kontze as Grandma, are in fine form.

My Inlaws are Outlaws! runs until April 20.