Review: Funny Peculiar at the Wycombe Swan (From Hillingdon Times)

Review: Funny Peculiar at the Wycombe Swan

4:21pm Wednesday 18th April 2012 in Local Reviews By Andy Carswell

'FUNNY Peculiar' by name but not necessarily by nature is how this show can be best summed up.

By today's standards the jokes and bawdy humour in the show - first performed in the 70s - seemed tame and for a comedy the belly laughs were in short supply.

Some of the humour was dated and the slapstick elements passed me by.

That wasn't the fault of the actors, who did their best to squeeze some life out of the script, and there were several funny moments. Most of them came from former Coronation Street star Vicky Entwistle, who stole the show as the prim Mrs Baldry. She made the part her own with her own style of humour and the character was all the better for it.

The tale focuses on the life of Trevor Tinsley (played by Craig Gazey) who, bored of his lot in running a greengrocer's and having an unenjoyable sex wife with his wife Irene (Suzanne Shaw), goes off to have an affair with the new girl in the village Shirley Smith (Gemma Bissix).

It's a simple enough story and was well acted throughout, with an especially strong showing by former Hear'Say singer Shaw, whose character even ends up apologising to her cheating husband by forcing him away through her actions.

It was an enjoyable play - it just shouldn't be advertised as a comedy.