By Ashleigh Fielding | posted on November 15, 2018
COMEDY and war aren’t often two things you’d put together.
But Plantagenet Players managed to do it delicately and with style in their latest production 1918 The War is Over.
From cooking shows in the trenches and marriage proposals with an elderly nymphomaniac, to operations with a kooky doctor armed with a mallet for anesthesia, the Players embraced the costume and attitudes reminiscent of the wartime era and breathed hysterical slapstick life into it.
A few serious moments were fed into the script to reflect on those who lost their lives and souls in the war, but the mood was brought back up with dimwitted chefs and drunken mothers.
It was a perfect way to lightly reflect on the past amidst other more sombre Armistice centenary events held across the Great Southern.
The Weekender’s Andy Dolphin showcased the broad spectrum of his acting skills by portraying a surgeon, chef, snobby father and larrikin farmer, triggering fits of laughter in every scene he graced.
Pat Topping surprised the audience with her cheeky lines and animated facial expressions – her mature age making them even funnier.
Co-producer Helen Jeffery smoothly and hilariously transitioned from a thickly moustached sergeant to a singing nurse and later, a half-cut mother.
To top it off, the tale of a boy eaten by a lion – read by Siobhan Gallagher – was woven in between scenes and made eyes water from giggling.
1918 The War is Over will play for two more nights – this Friday and Saturday, and tickets were still available at time of going to print from Mt Barker’s Scrap Shak.
