FROM the moment the lights went up, it was clear Christ Church Players wanted to give their audience of Derek Benfield’s Off the Hook a good time.

Set in an impressively built hotel reception-bar area, the characters came on stage one after the other starting with the perfectly cast cockney cleaner Edna (Brenda Griffiths) who makes it clear that most jobs around the hotel are “out of her province.”

The hotel, ran by a brilliantly pompous Major Catchpole (Michael Cull) and his promiscuous wife Norah (Julie Steele) sets the unorthodox precedent needed to carry off such a haphazard romp.

The play follows hard-faced criminal Fred Baxter (Martin Miller) and his cheeky chappie sidekick Charlie Mullins (Adam Syddall), who have just busted dangerous armed robber Harold Spook from prison to find the stash of money that he'd hidden in the hotel — or so they think.

Rather than being a hardened criminal, poor Spook (Brian Peel) is a bumbling but lovable small time con with the same name.

Their dynamic is consistently funny and well timed throughout, and their frustrations at how they’re going to find the money makes for hilarious viewing — helped by the other characters periodically getting in their way.

Poor Spook is hounded by frisky Mrs Catchpole who can’t keep her hands off him, whilst Mullins’ wandering eye heads straight for pretty guest Carol Fletcher-Brewer (Eleanor Goulding) — but the problem is, her mother (Janet Balshaw) is a force to be reckoned with.

Two more guests, chavy looking Polly (Ruth Morley) and her simple father (Geoffrey Pearson, who travelled over from Italy to be in this performance) are determined to check into the hotel, and the audience is treated to a double act as frustrated Polly — who turns out to be the other Harold Spook’s girlfriend — tries to keep her priceless father in check as she also searches for the money.

The use of the stage is good — the characters are in and out of the various doors so the pace doesn’t drop.

The twist at the end as to where the money is not expected and rounds off the show nicely — albeit maybe a little too suddenly.

However with an audience filled with laughter throughout, the Players have succeeded to produce an amusing and enjoyable romp with a strong cast performance.