AS ONE door opens, another closes - quite literally in the case of Marc Camoletti’s Boeing Boeing.
The award-winning farce Boeing Boeing opened at Theatre Royal Winchester on Wednesday, July 21 and is running until Saturday, July 23.
The audience is transported to Paris and into the well-oiled machine that is architect Bernard's love life.
Bernard, played by the outstanding John Dorney, has three fiancees – Gloria, Gabriella and Gretchen – who all work for different airlines with different timetables.
With the help of his long-suffering maid Bertha – played beautifully by Jessica Dennis – they have somehow managed to keep all three women blissfully unaware of each other’s existence..
However, the arrival of an old friend Robert, played by Paul Sandys, and the launch of a new superfast jet propel Bernard’s carefully constructed plans into farcical chaos.
It's beautiful to watch the smug Bernard's timetable fall to pieces, and helped by the comedy brought by Robert's surprise and wonderment at the ensuing chaos.
Loud and brash Gloria is first, playing to all the American stereotypes, then the emotional Italian Gabriella, followed by the passionate and forceful German Gretchen.
All three ladies are as beautiful as each other (and the uniforms are a delight). Bernard has certainly done well for himself - or at least until the timetables clash.
It's a whirlwind, one is jetting off, another arriving, with another on the phone.
It keeps the audience entertained - and ends with an almost too happy conclusion.
I am sure feminists everywhere are hoping that Bernard really does come a cropper...
However it's a representation of a time gone by, and the play has delighted audiences around the world for more than 50 years.
Touring theatre company, London Classic Theatre, are bringing their productions to the stage – with direction from the Company’s founder Michael Cabot.
Theatre Royal Winchester has hosted a number of the company’s productions including Alan Ayckbourne’s ‘Absurd Person Singular’ and Harold Pinter’s ‘No Man’s Land’.
Buy your tickets for ‘Boeing Boeing’ on 01962 840440, Theatre Royal Winchester.
Additional reporting by Justin Connelly
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