On the Razzle is a fast and furious farce full of double-entendres, witty wordplay, incidents of mistaken identity and even a pantomime horse, says Janice Windle. 4 STARS
If you want a really hilarious evening at the theatre, “On the Razzle” at the Electric Theatre is the place to be this week! The Guildbury Company presents a Tom Stoppard farce that Ian Nichol's, its director, remembers seeing there in the week that the new Electric Theatre building opened, twenty years ago, and the play certainly hasn’t lost any of its appeal since then.
The story is that Weinberl and Christopher, two bored grocer’s shop assistants, decide to go off and find some adventures in the big city, behind their boss’s back. Their ambition is to cause mayhem, and they certainly succeed! The big city is Vienna at the turn of the 20th century, a place of fabled wealth and hedonism, and our “likely lads” are determined to get a piece of the action there.
Robert Sheppard plays Zangler, their employer, with tremendous verve: pompous and larger than life, he’s master of an amazing array of twisted clichés, metaphors and malapropisms that have the audience reeling and roaring with laughter. Dom Gwyther is brilliant as the extraordinarily assertive new servant who interviews Zangler before “hiring” him as his employer!
Jason Orbaum as Weinberl has the serious, touchy charisma and expressive legs of John Cleese. He breaks at times into Marxist dialectic or flights of 19th century lyrical prose; Orbaum delivers these speeches with a lugubriousness that makes them very funny. Claire Racklyeft’s sense of comic timing as Christopher, a straightforward young hick just out for fun, is vigorous and infectiously joyous. They make a great comedy duo.
Of course, there’s a star-crossed young couple: handsome penniless Sonders (Michael Thonger) and pretty, “proper” Marie (Hana Bird) of whose love Zangler, her guardian, disapproves. Gilly Fick and Kathryn Attwood are flirtatious in beautiful hats as mature sexy Viennese women. Graham Russell-Price plays the lustful coachman to Louise Johnson’s frustrated Lisette, with great gusto. The whole cast is superb in ensemble scenes.
There’s a terrible tangle of sub-plots, as there should be in a good farce, and the action is fast and furious. The evening is full of puns, double-entendres and witty wordplay, incidents of mistaken identity, mistaken gender, slapstick and even a pantomime horse! What’s not to like in this romp!
Stoppard wrote “On the Razzle” in 1981, on the back of its convoluted history from its conception by John Oxenford in 1835 via a musical version in Austrian German, successful Broadway plays and film in the 1950’s and “Hello Dolly”, the musical in 1964 and the film in 1968. This production shows it’s lost none of its verve and wit. A must-see!
On the Razzle is at Guildford's Electric Theatre until December 3rd, for tickets visit guildford.gov.uk
Check out our Theatre/Arts Section for a comprehensive guide to what's on at your local theatre
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates on the latest stage news
Sign up to our Weekly Newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and stories
