As it turns out, Jean-Pierre is having quite a crisis of his own and the opening scene forms the start of a long set-up between him and Mary before the arrival of the "rotten children" who are central to the storyline.
The premise is strong and gives Watkins the chance to show some good physical comedy, and for Kay to establish Mary's character, and harness our empathy.
For me though, the early stages seem laboured with some convoluted dialogue that doesn't move the action along. Even the intervention of Ivy, an over-the-top nosy neighbour (which Liz Sheppard is clearly having fun with), isn't enough of a comedic device to stop it from feeling like a long build-up to the main event.
Once the girls arrive, the play lifts for me. Beck Douglas is delightfully whiny as the faintly idiotic Mandy, and Rye Inglis' strident Stella is frankly terrifying. Throw in Stella's henpecked husband Desmond (Sam Armstrong) and there's plenty going on. The three younger actors had fun with their characters, a mix of stereotypes but good foils for each other.
It was good to see Marianne Kay stretch out as a lead after her supporting performance in Geezers. She was believable in a role that required a huge effort with dialogue. Watkins had a good command of the physical comedy of Jean-Pierre, and his French accent was commendably comic, although somewhat too fast in places for full clarity.
Sheppard's Ivy was a fun comic performance and while the 'nutty neighbour' stereotype and the character's behaviour stretched credulity, her antics got the crowd chuckling.
I had a few plausibility issues with some relationships and plot twists in the script but the cast and Ashton worked hard to play up the laughs and bring solutions to Mary's festive fracas.
The set was well presented with excellent detail in both spaces to reflect the owners and the festive theme although the beautifully made garden centre stage was somewhat redundant.
Community theatre is a wonderful thing, full of skilled and dedicated volunteers, it provides a creative outlet for many and a wonderful grounding for young performers. It's also reasonably priced; so, for $20 I think you are safe to get along and have a chuckle (and perhaps a sigh of relief that your family aren't as bad).
