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POSTED: 20 OCT 08

By Jeeves

(Genesian Theatre, 420 Kent Street, Sydney, until 6 December)

As a huge P.G. Wodehouse devotee (and not-so-huge Andrew Lloyd-Webber fan), I attended the Sydney premiere of Alan Ayckbourn and Lloyd-Webber’s musical By Jeeves, with curiosity and trepidation.

I need not have worried. Genesian Theatre's production is a delightful evening of laughs in the best tradition of absurd English drawing-room comedies of manner, with plenty of pandemonium, mistaken identities and ebullient performances.

The venue helps set the scene as soon as you enter. The Genesian Theatre was originally the Church of St John the Evangelist, and celebrates its 140th birthday this year. It is an aged, intimate location and perfectly suits this type of production.

What makes this musical effective is the variation on the "play within a play". Ostensibly billed as a benefit evening of banjo playing to raise funds for the Little Wittam Church, featuring the talents of Bertram Wooster, the action quickly shifts when — horrors — the banjo is nowhere to be found! Pending the coming substitute, faithful butler Jeeves suggests Bertie relate an anecdote to keep the audience amused.

Assisted by various 'backstage' helpers, a story of befuddled magnificence unfolds. The audience are warmly drawn into the jokes and confusion. This theatrical device allows for much fun to be had with multiple roles, silly 'improvised' props and hysterical misunderstandings.

The action is fast-paced, and it pays to follow carefully with the names as they were sometimes articulated too quickly. Knowing the characters from the beloved Jeeves series of books by Wodehouse helps, but having the program to refer to is just as useful.

Director Roger Gimblett chose his cast well, and has elicited performances that build the mayhem without tipping over into excess. The likeability of Nick Hunter's Bertie Wooster is evident immediately. The character is faithful to Wodehouse's, instilling an essentially conceited, ineffectual upper-class fop with such charm that one can’t help but hope it all ends well for him.

Bertie’s exaggerated responses to his catastrophic escapades are nicely balanced by Richard Cotter’s imperturbable Jeeves.

A strong supporting cast assist in the bedlam, most notably Rowan Witt's Gussie and Emily Twemlow's Stiffy.

The musical numbers work in that they give the audience some respite from myriad plot twists. While recognisably Lloyd-Webber music, this was one of his earlier pieces and it shows in that it does not have the polish and 'Broadway blockbuster' feel of future works. In fact, the simplicity of the music is a pleasant addition. It helps that the ensemble is small and adds to the atmosphere of a night of church-hall frivolity.