PERFORMANCE & COMEDY

Rondo Theatre, Bath (Sat 21 Jan)

THEATRE This latest from Bristol's Ministry of Entertainment is set, as is their trademark, firmly in nostalgia country. They have, though, moved from the 1940s into the 1950s, when, at Mrs Gerrish’s guesthouse, unspeakable crimes may or may not be being committed among her guests, neighbours and friendly police constable (who is called Dixon, of course, because this is the '50s).

This ludicrously silly whodunnit, or more accurately whodunwhat, is enlivened by Mrs Gerrish’s stentorian renditions of classic ’50s popsongs for no apparent reason apart from that they are, well, enlivening (the Edith Piaf being particularly popular with an enraptured audience). Kate McNab’s portrayal of the irascible Mrs Gerrish, replete with cod-posh and not-so-posh Bristolian gossipy asides is offset by Ross Harvey’s appearances as all the other loopy characters - Mrs Gerrish’s rather dowdy best friend (or is she?); Herr Winkel the mad musical professor (or is he?); and PC Dixon, occasionally morphing into the psychopathic PC Wold - most memorably in a crazed interrogation scene in which you see the actor playing both characters at once, actually physically brawling with each other. Inspired lunacy.

Though the plotlines in the piece are somewhat rambling and occasionally the pace drops a bit as a result, there are plenty enough comic moments and a sufficiently daft denouement to make for a proper evening’s entertainment from just two performers – unsurprisingly, since Entertainment, of course, is what they are the Ministry of. (John Christopher Wood)

Copyright John Christopher Wood 2012