House number 13 isn’t your average house. It starts with the door, hand crafted by Frank (Joe Pasquale) himself – lacking a letter box (don’t worry, it is on Frank’s list of jobs to do) and then you’ll find the door bell can only be turned off by tapping a certain way on the walls. The kitchen has a leak, a number of chairs have no legs and well, quite FRANKLy, the house is a DIY disaster.
But DIY disasters aside, the house is full. Full of love, full of people and full of genius comedy moments that take me straight back to being a young girl, laughing at episode repeats of the TV version of Some Mothers Do Ave Em with my sister. Laughs a-plenty then and lots of laughs now too.
For those unaware of the show, Some Mothers Do Ave Em tells the story of accident prone Frank Spencer who is married to Betty Spencer (Sarah Earnshaw). Frank isn’t the best at keeping a job and during the production this evening is between jobs, wanting to make a name for himself as a magician.
The show is full of slapstick comedy that had the whole audience laughing.
All of the cast were astounding. Their ability to remember every line and every move was incredible. There’s a section where Betty’s Mother, Mrs Fisher (Susie Blake) does a real tongue twister and is fabulous. But with the quick wit and speed of this show, it makes the perfection in each and every word and sentence ever more impressive.
The creative team, especially Guy Unsworth, the Writer/Director should be incredibly proud of themselves. They have created a masterpiece that not only encompasses all that was brilliant about the TV show, but they’ve made it stand on its own two feet as a stage show that people will love, regardless of if they have seen the TV show.
The production team have worked wonders with the stage design, lighting, sound effects and costume design. Everything works well. Perfect timing on all of the effects.
Moray Treadwell who plays Mr Luscombe and Mr Worthington was superb! A real delight to watch on the stage, but then every cast member was. Father O’Hara (James Patterson) had me laughing immensely and Ben Watson had the roles of Desmond and Constable down to a T.
It is a truly brilliant show that flew by way too quickly on the stage. Performed by a tremendous cast. I could watch it again and again. Superb!
Now, let’s hunt out some box sets.
You can catch Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em at The Alexandra Theatre until Saturday 23rd July with tickets priced as low as £12 for certain seats/performances. Book quickly, you really do not want to miss this one.
Buy Tickets here: https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/some-mothers-do-ave-em/the-alexandra-theatre-birmingham/
Disclaimer: We were invited along to the press showing. All thoughts and opinions are entirely our own.