by Sue Hutchison
THE Mill at Sonning has done it again. Cash on Delivery cooks up every ingredient necessary to produce a delicious farce in the best tradition of a dinner/theatre package, which this theatre’s regular audience loves so well.
Rikki Lawton, playing the central character Eric Swan, has woven a complicated web of deceit to outwit the authorities and claim benefits for an army of fictitious lodgers.
When it all becomes too complicated, he decides to kill them off with a variety of “accidents”. But the resulting mayhem — as real and make-believe characters collide — ensures a hilarious evening of first-class comedy.
The action starts as soon as the curtain rises. Eric begins to panic when a DSS inspector arrives unexpectedly, quickly followed by Sally, a dotty bereavement officer, beautifully played by Anita Graham. Then enter a psychiatrist, an undertaker, and finally a corpse who isn’t really dead (Uncle George, who has been Eric’s accomplice from the start).
As lies and more lies lead to even more confusion, the audience roars with laughter. The action throughout is perfectly timed, so quick that the actors struggle to keep straight faces themselves.
This is farce at its absolute best. The Mill has another winning show, giving their audiences a delicious evening of jolly entertainment.
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