Rob Madge has adapted the comedy farce Charley’s Aunt by Brandon Thomas with a hilarious queer twist and a modern take on love and relationships while keeping to the original storyline. Which works brilliantly.

The story begins with the two friends. Oxford University undergraduates Charley Wykeham (Jonathan Case) and his friend Jack Chesney (Benjamin Westerby) are attempting to write letters to their loved ones. Jack takes the lead and wants to arrange a meeting. However, due to this being set in an era where girls need to be chaperoned the boys have to come up with a plan to find one. With Charley’s Aunt from Brazil (where the nuts come from) due to arrive soon she will be the perfect chaperone.

Max Gill in the role of Babbs works for the Spettigue family and is persuaded by the girls Amy Spettigue (Mae Munuo) and Kitty Verdun (Yasemin Özdemir) to dress up and pretend to be Charley’s aunt, Donna Lucia D’Alvadorez, (whom Charley has never met). However, due to his Aunt cancelling at the last minute and the two couples are desperate to see each other.

Babbs need to be in disguise to pretend to be a woman. This is achieved through borrowing one of the girls’ bonnets. It’s certainly enough to fool his boss Spettigue (Richard Earl) who thinks he might have a chance of marriage with! Poor deluded Spettigue.

However, when the real Donna Lucia d’Alvadorez (Maggie Service) who is Charley’s Aunt changes her plans and turns up it throws everyone’s plans into the air.

Director Sophie Drake has pulled all the farcical threads together brilliantly and although the play is fast-paced the storyline flows smoothly and you can keep up with the developments as they happen. A real credit to Drake’s directing as it would be easy to become sidetracked.

The set and costume design by Alex Berry, combines the serenity of the Oxford University lifestyle from the bookshelves full of classical literature to the well-manicured outside spaces. All achieved with precision on the small stage that the Watermill Theatre has to offer.

I found the intimate venue setting allows you to feel more engaged with the farce and see everything that is taking place. Rob Madge has created a superb modern twist version of the original and it’s definitely one worth going to watch.

For more information about Charley’s Aunt and future productions at The Watermill Theatre please use the link below.

Five Stars.

Photo credit Mark Senior.

https://www.watermill.org.uk/events/charleys-aunt

Cast

Jonathan Case-Charley Wykeham

Richard Earl-Spettigue 

Elijah Ferreira-Eli Delahay

Max Gill-Babbs

Mae Munuo-Amy Spettigue

Yasemin Özdemir-Kitty Verdun

Maggie Service-Donna Lucia d’Alvadorez

Benjamin Westerby-Jack Chesney.