Worcester Evening News Review 1984 – “Uproar in the Houses” – Norbury Theatre, Droitwich

Farce made a spirited entry into Droitwich’s Norbury Theatre. “Uproar in the House”, staged by St John’s Players from Worcester, provided rumbustious fun for a healthy first-night audience.
Barry North plays the part of house salesman and would-be Conservative MP Nigel Pitt with great gusto. His mission is yo hoodwink homebuyer Sir Lindsay Cooper (Barry Imms) and his wife Lady Cooper (Suzanne Nevitt) into buying a “dream home” which has been on the market for years. His partner in deception is a hired actress Melanie Sinclair (Rosemary Phillips) who impersonates his wife.
Without revealing too much of the plot, a string of uninvited fog bound visitors turn up on the doorstep, piling chaos upon confusion, until the entire cast of 13 is running madly around the set.
Rosemary Phillips and Christine Watkins give good accounts of themselves as the long suffering office staff of the unscrupulous builder Bernard Lockwood (Peter Thorpe). Trevor King plays a convincing lacklustre wimp of a solicitor who frequently resorts to quoting Latin. Throw in a two-timing Labour MP (Paul Clark) and his wife (Christine King), plus a photographer in a dirty mac for good measure (Ray Archer) and you have the perfect recipe for farce. Gavin Wright and Angie Harris take cameo parts as a bemused odd-job man and yet another mistress to round off the plot.
Top marks for effort in a robust performance enjoyed by cast and audience alike. The play runs until Saturday.