RSC Friends

Photograph by Pete Le May.

A hugely enjoyable theatrical experience. Vice Versa is the funniest thing that I have seen in a theatre for a long time. The plot is familiar, canny servant tricks her master into letting his concubine Voluptua escape with her lover while simultaneously freeing his servant, Dexter, from slavery. So far, so unremarkable except this is played with such zest and fun that the audience is totally captivated. The jokes and double entendres are clever and genuinely funny. The physical comedy makes more than a nod at post war British comedy (grey socks, suspenders and sandals are de rigeur).

Music and props add to the general mayhem. The songs are memorable, costume and sets inventive and full of humour, even a mobility scooter doubling as a chariot is met with gales of laughter by the delighted audience.

The plot is predictable the script revels in a familiar irreverence and vulgarity beloved of British comedy. The audience loved it.