Review: A Christmas Getaway, Theatre Royal Bath

From the moment Eamonn Fleming breaks into the exposition song, we know we are in for a frantic, festive farce. With characters straight from the ‘country house saucy weekend’ tradition so well loved by British audiences, this show is an homage to PG Wodehouse, Brian Rix and the ‘near the knuckle but innocent’ humour that permeated the 1970s.

Written and directed by Feargus Woods Dunlop, A Christmas Getaway is packed full of knotty logic, tortuous puns, running jokes, innuendo and alliteration. It doesn’t miss a trick.

The premise is pretty straightforward. Members of the Jameson household are all planning to enjoy a Christmas Eve getaway at their soon-to-be sold country home; but they didn’t plan to be there at the same time – the father turns up for a tryst with the neighbour, the mother arrives to bed her daughter’s fiancé, the daughter has taken a French lover, and the servants all have the hots for each other.

Sedona Rose, Eamonn Fleming and Kirsty Cox – photo: Pamela Raith

Woods Dunlop is well aware that we might lose track of who’s who and what’s what – especially given that only four actors are playing a total of 20 parts – so our concentration is rewarded with a number of meta-jokes which keep us up to speed. Act One ends on a familiar ‘what could possibly go wrong’ note which sets us up nicely for what lies ahead.

And we are far from disappointed – Act Two contains a raft of well executed set pieces; from the delightful pastiche of a famous Morecambe and Wise sketch, to a sweet solo-duologue from Sedona Rose and an incredible turn from Kirsty Cox as a doorstep full of carol singers.

The cast work their socks off with costume, accent and physical comedy contortions (hats off to Emile Clarke and his vast collection of rangy poses) and as the show races towards its frenetic climax – driven by the increasingly desperate Fleming as the wily servant who outwits his sex-mad, stupid superiors – the pretence drops momentarily so that we can all acknowledge quite what they’re pulling off behind the scenes.

Emile Clarke as Carl Jameson – photo: Pamela Raith

I could have done without the pre-emptive programme note telling me to be impressed by this, since I would have been anyway. All four cast members are terrifically committed to the show – and their curtain call thanks to us for turning up to experience live theatre during these strange times was genuinely moving.

New Old Friends won the Creative Bath Award for Writing in both 2017 and 2018, and rightly so. They have created a signature style of witty, fast-paced, elegant comedy, having honed their craft over the past 11 years. If they can keep the production values to the level of script content they will truly have a package to make them proud.

Sedona Rose as Mitsy Norton,_Eamonn Fleming as Derek Fambridge, and Kirsty Cox as Ms Stokes – photo: Pamela Raith

A Christmas Getaway is at Theatre Royal Bath, Sawclose, Bath, BA1 1ET until January 8, 2022 at 8pm, with 3pm matinee shows on Thursdays and Saturdays. Tickets are available at www.theatreroyal.org.uk.

Main photo: Pamela Raith

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