Are You Being Served?

If you like a little (or should that be a little more than a little?) innuendo, the occasional double entendre, or if you simply want to laugh at one-liners that you know (yes, you know) you shouldn’t be laughing at, then Are You Being Served? at Ballina Players is the place to be.

This is a delightfully wicked piece of comic theatre, replete with delicious dialogue, delivered by a cast of, literally, not that many. Okay, there’s eleven. Quite a lot really.

Director Fran Legge (with assistance from Liz Dargin) has managed to wrangle an unruly mob of underappreciated and woefully underpaid actors into a slightly coherent rabble.

This production was sold out almost before tickets were released, such was the anticipation.

An additional performance was added to the run and it, too, sold out in a matter of days.

For anyone who bought a ticket let me assure you, it’s money well spent.

There’s a gentle, almost unwavering, pace.

The dialects are convincing and, to my ears, are consistent.

The comic timing, both verbal and physical, is astonishingly good.

The note sequence is beautifully choreographed, as is the German Slap Dance.

And the tent sequence is bedroom farce writ large.

All this is delivered by a talented, well-drilled and disciplined cast, who are all consistent in their characterisations.

Technical aspects of the production are all good.

The sets are attractively dressed. One might suggest they may have been slightly under-dressed.

The lighting plot is fairly straightforward but effective.

There were a couple of issues with sound, but keeping track of so many microphones in motion is never an easy task.

I would have liked to see Are You Being Served? a second time, simply because my cognitive agility is not what it used to be and I’m certain there are some gags I missed.

Congratulations Fran, your team, and your cast, for the laughs and the sore jaw. It was a very enjoyable theatre experience.

You have lent further credence to Ballina Players motto ‘The Best in Regional Theatre’.

Graham Whittingham