Relatively Speaking - Swan Theatre, Worcester

3:55pm Friday 19th October 2007

TAKE a budding romance, throw in complications and you have this entertaining Sixties masterpiece by Alan Ayckbourn.

Add a talented cast with precise comedy timing and you get the recipe for a great evening's entertainment.

Relatively Speaking was first performed in 1965. The concept is simple, yet the play is cleverly constructed, superbly written and very entertaining.

A young couple look to be on the road to marriage, but judging from the flowers and chocolates the girlfriend is receiving it seems likely that she has unfinished business elsewhere.

She sets off ostensibly to spend a day with her mother and father.

Without telling her, the boyfriend decides he will also make his way to Buckinghamshire to meet them. But are they really her parents?

Bob Churchill turns in a professional performance as the romantic and slightly old-fashioned Greg, who feels he needs his girlfriend's father's permission to marry her.

Keith Thompson is hugely enjoyable as Philip, the businessman who spiced up his life by having an affair with the much younger Ginny.

Sue Hawkins' Sheila is a delightful characterisation of the loyal wife, while Miriam Knight is impressive as Ginny.

The Swan Theatre Amateur Company and director Ann Moore are to be congratulated on staging a cracking play.