The play has a number of challenges to overcome, especially on a small stage, and I was therefore very interested to see how these were handled: for instance, there are an inordinate number of scenes in quick-changing locations; then there are practical props including food that is cooked live on stage; and the central character of Nigel – a child who ages from around nine to eighteen throughout the play, but talks with an adult voice and has frequent direct-to-audience monologues. It is also a surreal piece in places: adverts come to life, and the action morphs into a TV quiz.

In terms of the staging, the set design and construction by Kris and Peter Moore and a host of others made the most of the Barn’s small but deep stage. A stepped, raised area at the back served as the garden area, a table and chairs, and a dresser stage left became the various dining rooms and hotels the family visit, but the main feature was the huge kitchen counter. The design included five entrances which helped to keep the action flowing. There was some projection on the back wall to establish location such as houses and the seaside and I felt there could have been more of this, although I understand that could have restricted entrances and exits as actors would have to walk through projection lights. The decor and set dressing all seemed to fit the period of the play, which covers the late 60s to the early 70s.

All the props by Barbara Foster, Linda Miles and Georgie Palmer also appeared to be in keeping with the period and a myriad of different dishes were supplied with aplomb from underneath the counter, especially when Nigel begins a food battle with Joan.

Lighting by John Gardner and James Rowles offered good stage coverage – there was just a small problem on the SL entrance in Act One (maybe caused by a blown bulb). There were also some effects which enhanced the production – for example, when Nigel’s mother appears as a ‘ghost’, and when Nigel visits a car park in the auditorium in Act Two. One thing that might have been good was to use a few more lighting states to enhance it further – for example fading down one side of stage when characters such as Nigel’s mum or Joan were just fussing under a Nigel monologue on the other side, fading down the stage when they were all in the car going to Betty’s, or using a different state when Nigel read his poem.

Music was by Rob Wallace and for curtain music I wondered if you would go with obvious 70s song Toast by Streetband (which is where I might have gone) but instead used the theme to Listen with Mother which was a great choice. Other music choices also worked well, including the yodelling 70s Dutch prog rock band Focus underscoring Nigel’s actual cooking scene which was timed to perfection. Other required sound effects and music were included such as the Top of the Form theme, La Mer and the sounds of the seaside.

Wardrobe was by Anne Mawer. In general, all the costumes looked of the right period and served the production well. There was clearly a distinctive contrast between the clothes worn by Nigel’s mum and her replacement, Joan, who also had numerous changes while other characters largely stayed in the same clothes. You also had to find many other special costumes such as for the ‘Flinches’ which worked very well, and you are to be congratulated on the wonderful fried eggs used in the advertising sequence. I did wonder if the audience would ‘get’ that Nigel is a schoolboy when the show opens and thought that to aid that Nigel could have looked more like a schoolboy, maybe in shorts in Act One and longer grey trousers in Act Two. Worrell and Nigel’s other schoolfriends were in school uniform so it did look a bit incongruous when he interacted with them.

There are around 25 characters listed in the script – originally played by five actors, you went for eight.

As the central character of Nigel, who is onstage virtually non-stop Rob Graham gave a strong performance and held attention throughout. This actor was really engaging and assured and was clearly at home with the numerous audience asides about other characters and comments upon the action. A number of these are not in the script, so may have been pre-arranged or off-the-cuff adlibs on the night: but whichever, they worked well. I perhaps would have liked to have seen a bit of a distinction between when he is talking to the audience and when he is interacting with other characters, considering when the play starts he is a ten-year-old. This could have been vocally, or for example if he had sat on the counter, swinging his legs in some of the early scenes with his mum.

Paul Russell was wonderful as the kind of Dad that can castigate his son for being a ‘Nancy boy’, but then place a sweet by his bedside each night for two years to cheer him up. He made the most of his comedy moments such as repeatedly throwing a beach ball at Nigel’s head and failing in his attempt to cook spaghetti bolognese for the first time; I will not forget his way of consuming a Walnut Whip in a hurry. Suzie Major played Nigel’s mum with the required ‘mumsiness’ and, like others in the cast, was good at breaking the fourth wall when required. Her sugary maternal scenes with Nigel worked well and set him up nicely for the harder story of the grief and loneliness he faces once she dies.

As the OCD cleaning step-mum Joan Potter, a ‘chain-smoking bitch with a Pledge problem’, Jessica Wall gave an excellent performance and the warring scenes between her and Nigel in Act Two were among the most enjoyable in the production: I actually feel the script itself is a bit unbalanced, with Act One being a bit thin and Act Two speeding up and cramming in an awful lot more, hence maybe why Act Two appears better than Act One. Ruth Burton gave a nicely judged performance as Nigel’s pub mentor Doreen and Andrew Read gave a good account of his school chum Worrell and other parts.

Chris White played Josh the gardener and Doreen’s son – a 17-year-old Royal Ballet School dancing student – this was casting against type, but it was embraced by the production, and in styling this out you solicited some unscripted humour. Francine Ross, Carolyne Mitchell and Anne Woolmington played the other parts well and were all able to create the comic characters swiftly and switched roles seamlessly as required.

Directed by Keith Thompson, in terms of production, as mentioned before the furniture remained largely static throughout. The alternative I suppose was endless trucking furniture and set on and off which would have been difficult, especially on a stage of this size, hence my earlier comments about doing something with lighting. Paring down the production served to keep the pace going, especially in the second half. It would have been good to see the Aga and food going into it, but I appreciate this might not have been possible in your space and approach.

The professional production stated the play was ‘part comedy, part biography, part cooking demonstration event’ and while there was some live cooking, most of the dishes were fake, and I did feel it would have been great to see real cooking (complete with the associated smells) a little more often. When Nigel did actually cook live on stage towards the end of the play it was a revelation and you could tell the audience appreciated it – so maybe that is what you were going for?

Overall, the production exploited both the humour and the pathos in this piece in equal measure and was very funny where it needed to be and both shocking and sad in other places. The play does contain some quite dark subjects: Nigel loses both his parents while still a teenager, is beaten on stage by his father when he spills raspberries on the carpet, and discovers a dogging site. This production was able to bring out both effectively, and overall this was a funny and engaging play with some strong central performances, assisted by some good ensemble work.

In summary, this was a really enjoyable comic evening which reminded me of a joke from Steven Wright: “I went to a restaurant that serves ‘breakfast at any time’. So, I ordered toast during the Renaissance”.