Cash on Delivery

Cheriton Players

Playwright Michael Cooney has certainly followed in father Ray’s footsteps if this riot of a farce is anything to go by! The fun started when Eric Swan tried to extricate himself from a massive fraud involving multiple benefit claims for existing and non-existent lodgers. Not that easy, he soon discovered, and the arrival of a DWP inspector set the cat firmly among the pigeons. What followed is far too complicated to report here, but increasingly ludicrous and hilarious. Glynn Williams excelled as the fraudulent claimant, coping well with a very wordy script (even funnier when consulting the prompt!) and David Cradduck had the dogged inspector Jenkins off to a tee. Craig Robb (as Norman Bassett) also starred as the unwilling and unwitting conspirator to the shenanigans although the supporting cast all had their moments, Tim Day’s set looked impressive and Director Helena Gomm delivered a show that was no fraud.

Alan Johns