OFS Studio, Tue May 18th - Sat May 22nd 2010

Fun Run was just that. A funny, fast-paced romp with some excellent characterisations from Steve Hay, Katie Mansfield, James Card, Sam Mansfield and Louise Cobb. In fact, all four actors excelled at delivering farce but Steve Hay had the greater challenge of ensuring a darker under current throughout both acts, which he delivered in an appropriately measured manner amidst the wackiness of the design crowd. An enjoyable and memorable evening in the final weeks of the 'Old' Fire Station.

MAF 26 May 2010

The office sets the scene for The Fun Run, a play that weaves office politics with issues of relationships and sexual frustration. This Balancing Act production showed at the Old Fire Station in the third week of May. Steve Hay skillfully navigated the role of the Moody Manager Ken who at one point spectacularly gets butt naked. He brought some poignant moments and successfully grounded the comic premise of the other characters. Actor Sam Mansfield played the boyish and inept Sean. Katie Mansfield morphed her way through the role of office new girl Amanda. Touchy (played by James Card) got the most laughs closely followed by Libby (played by Louise Cobb whose performance stood out). The play descended into betrayal, scandal and explosive sexual tension in an uplifting ending that left the audience apparently titillated. There were some distracting errors of light and sound but overall it was a ballsy production [pun intended].

Pete (The Temp) Bearder 25 May 2010

This was a good old-fashioned British farce, pulled off by an accomplished cast. The characters were larger than life as one would expect in such a play, though Steve Hay managed to engender genuine sympathy for his character (Ken) who has to tackle genuine problems whilst around him chaos breaks out as his staff attempt to advertise, and then take part in, a fun run. Some of the jokes hit home harder than others, and one or two were not to everyone's taste, but this was farce in the ilk of Ray Cooney, and a throw-back to the 70s, so exactly what the genre requires.

woznon 25 May 2010

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