Crown Wharf Theatre’s latest production, Jack Absolute Flies Again, opened on Friday night, and we were there to see what the theatre’s amazing team had been working on.
The verdict? A brilliant, laugh-out-loud funny evening, with brilliant performances and staging that makes clever use of the theatre’s space.
Written by Richard Bean and Oliver Chris, the comedy takes us back to 1940 and the Battle of Britain. RAF pilot Jack Absolute is reunited with his former love, Lydia Languish, but romance is rarely straightforward. With mistaken identities, competing admirers and a rather mischievous maid the show is relentless – in a good way!
There’s plenty of innuendo, some wonderfully ridiculous situations and a cast of characters whose complicated love lives become increasingly tangled as the evening progresses.
And judging by the laughs coming from the people around us, we definitely weren’t the only ones enjoying ourselves.
Plenty of characters and plenty of laughs
Alexander Sparrow takes the title role of Jack Absolute, whose romantic plans are at the centre of much of the confusion.
His relationship with his father, Sir Anthony Absolute, played by John Hill, brings another enjoyable dynamic to the story. Sir Anthony is a rather overbearing Army general with firm ideas about his son’s future, and the exchanges between the two provide some great comic moments as Jack tries to navigate both his father’s expectations and his own complicated love life.
The RAF characters are a wonderfully varied bunch, each bringing something different to the story. Alec Voss plays Australian pilot Bob ‘Wingnut’ Acres, complete with an outrageously over the top Aussie accent that adds to the comedy.
There’s also Oliver Freer as northern mechanic Dudley Scunthorpe, Gary Singh as Bikram ‘Tony’ Khattri and Thomas Waldron as Roy Faulkland, among the other characters caught up in the romantic confusion.
The pilots aren’t just there for laughs, though. Their preparations for battle and the moments when they head into action remind us that all this silliness is taking place against the backdrop of the Second World War.
For us, though, there were some particularly memorable performances from the female members of the cast.
Dawn Huxley was an absolute joy as Mrs Malaprop, a character who appears almost incapable of getting through a sentence without using a wrong word.
It’s the speed and confidence of her delivery that makes it so enjoyable. The muddled expressions come thick and fast, and following what she’s actually trying to say becomes part of the fun.
Charlotte Davies was another highlight as Lucy, the cheeky maid who has found a rather profitable sideline in delivering love letters discreetly.
Well, we say discreetly, until she starts sharing their contents with the audience!
Lucy regularly steps outside the story to talk directly to us, explaining how the play works and cheerfully pointing out some of its more ridiculous conventions. It’s a lovely bit of fun, and Davies makes the audience feel very much part of what’s going on.
Katie Boyle also impressed as Lydia Languish, particularly during the dance sequences, which bring another burst of energy to an already lively performance!
There are even a few opportunities for the audience to get involved, including moments involving a duck and those troublesome love letters. We won’t spoil the jokes, but they certainly added to the laughter.
Simple staging that works brilliantly
One of the things that impressed us most was how effectively the production uses the Crown Wharf stage.
The set isn’t unnecessarily complicated, but it doesn’t need to be. The changes between locations are handled smoothly, and the combination of lighting, sound and music helps bring each scene to life.
You have actors coming in from all directions, from the back, the sides, and through the main audience entrances. If you’ve been sat or stood outside of the Crown Theatre on show nights, you’ll often see actors sprinting between locations off stage!
The original music, composed and arranged by Dan Stubbs, adds to the wartime setting, while the dancing brings a real sense of the 1940s to the stage.
The costumes complete the picture, and it’s clear from the production programme just how much work has gone into getting everything ready.
A long evening that doesn’t feel like one
We arrived for the 7.30pm start and the performance finished at around 10.15pm, with an interval inbetween.
As the various relationships, misunderstandings and characters develop, each part feels like it has a reason to be there. There’s always another amusing situation around the corner, and spending more time with these characters is part of the enjoyment.
There’s plenty of silliness, but the wartime setting also gives the story something more serious to draw upon, especially at this time of year.
Jack Absolute Flies Again is Crown Wharf Theatre’s second in-house production, following Shakespeare in Love, and comes as the theatre celebrates two years since its first show.
For us, it was another really enjoyable night at our local theatre. We laughed throughout, loved the performances and came away impressed by what the team had put together.
If you fancy an evening of comedy, romance, wartime music and some wonderfully daft misunderstandings, then you should definitely head along!
Jack Absolute Flies Again runs at Crown Wharf Theatre in Stone until Saturday 14 November. The production contains strong language, and tickets can be booked through the Crown Wharf Theatre website.
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