Christmas Present & Correct by New Old Friends, Lichfield Garrick Theatre Review
Christmas Present and Correct. Photo by Pamela Raith
Written by Sam for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
New Old Friends return to Lichfield Garrick with another chaotic conundrum with their latest production of Christmas Present & Correct, written and directed by Feargus Woods Dunlop. Made up of four cast members and an abundance of characters, this year’s Christmas show from New Old Friends is based in a local radio station, where a brother and sister duo, Herbert Richards (Stuart Tavendale) and Dorothy Richards (Kirsty Cox) host a popular radio series, but the truth soon comes to light during rehearsals.
Other characters that waltz into the radio booth are Saffron Smith (Rosie Coles) and Wyllis Guthrie (Mark Collier). Saffron doesn’t want to disclose her real identity but takes a shine to Dorothy and asks for a part on their hit radio show. As Wyllis is due to visit the studio that same day, Saffron is roped in to save the day and pretend she’s the iconic French flirt, Felicity Martin whilst Dorothy and Herbert work out how they are going to get away with Herbert’s money scheme.
Herbert is an aspiring actor and during the radio’s Christmas special, he’s responsible for the voices of Dean Davis playing Phil Cavalry and playing Nancy Dilworth as Amy Cavalry and playing Brian Quitter as Noel Wilder as well as playing Felicity Martin as Patricia De Doge (before Saffron saves the day). Sounds chaotic right? Well, it is.
Despite some of the cast playing multiple characters, each actor fully embraces their role and each character they portray is different to the other. Tavendale’s skills and talent blows my mind. He can flick between accents and characters without even thinking, it seems so natural and adds authenticity to the show because I don’t automatically think oh, that’s the character from before, I know he’s portraying a new one even if it’s just a slight costume change. Whatever he does, it just works and is a huge success.
As you can imagine, everything goes wrong in this show due to the web of lies Herbert has concocted (no spoilers), and it makes everybody laugh. There’s plenty of accidents, door slams and cables wrapped around legs. Although some of it may be predictable and slightly unrealistic, it’s still funny.
The show is full of witty wordplay and lots of alliteration – so many words beginning with ‘s’ and not one mistake or stutter. I found this part of the show extremely impressive. One, for remembering the words, two for getting them in the right order and three, for saying them so fast that there was no room for stumbling.
It’s clear the cast love what they do and this style of writing and performing makes attending a New Old Friends show more thrilling. I look forward to reviewing one of their shows every time we are invited. You never know what to expect, apart from the fact there will of course be chaos and more than four characters despite there only being four cast members. It’s a great experience, which leaves you wondering what’s next and I’m grateful to have seen them perform at three different shows.
Although not a traditional Christmas production, this show will provide you with two hours of laughter and leave you feeling festive. If you are interested in meeting The Calvary at their local hit radio station, then buy your tickets from here up until 5 January.
★★★★
