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Caught in the Net, New Forest Players, Ballard School, New Milton.

WHAT a tonic this glorious production proved to be: brilliantly acted and directed and an absolute hoot from start to finish.

Ray Cooney’s hilarious sequel to Run For Your Wife finds two-timing taxi driver John Smith (Peter Davis) desperately trying to stop his children - one from each of his marriages – meeting up with each other, having corresponded through an internet chat room, because if they do so the secret of his double life will almost certainly be revealed.

The only other person apparently in on the deception is hapless lodger Stanley Gardener (John Tickner, giving one of the best comedy performances I have ever seen on the amateur stage). Stanley’s holiday to Felixstowe with his dad (Adam Ogilvie) is forcibly put on hold as he does his best to prevent Gavin (Joshua Haberfield) from seeing Vicky (Charlotte Blake), and likewise John’s wives Barbara (Fiona Sinclair) and Mary (Carol Catton).

Ray Cooney’s ending is perhaps a little contrived, but by then it really didn’t matter, and I really can’t praise this production highly enough. Ann Ramm’s direction is faultless, the timing, always so important in farce, is perfect, all the characterisations are first class and the comedy is stomach-hurtingly, laugh-out-loudingly, hysterically funny.

A wonderful evening.

Linda Kirkman

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