Ooh Matron! Nobody does in fact utter those immortal words during Ray Cooney’s farce, but well they might in this hospital-based caper. After all, it does contain not one, but three, matrons, although only one is the genuine article (Penny Burroughs).
She’s the one who is left zonked after being injected with a tranquilliser by the agitated long-lost son Leslie (Sean Moore, enjoying a more prominent role than usual) of philandering neurologist Dr David Mortimore (a shifty-looking Gareth Hammond), who has to jettison his keynote lecture in order to fob the lad off to a seemingly naive colleague, Dr Bonney (Malcolm Bradbury) and dodge his parental responsibilities. Initially reluctant, Bonney is persuaded to help Mortimore concoct a farrago of lies to stop Mortimore’s prim wife Rosemary (Patricia Leopold) finding out about out his past.
If only bashful Nurse Tate (Amy Stammers) hadn’t turned up out of the blue with her tales of naughty escapades in the sluice room years earlier … and if only that police sergeant (a stern Denise Santilli) hadn’t arrested Leslie, then Mortimore and Nurse Tate wouldn’t have had to fib about the Himalayas, a mad dog or a vicar who lives in the hospital. Are you keeping up at the back there?
Soon Mortimore, Bonney and fellow medic Dr Connolly (Dan Abrams, displaying plenty of talent here – watch out for the backflip) find themselves cross-dressing, caught in crossed wires and talking at cross-purposes. There is more than a hint of Fawlty Towers about this production, especially when half the cast end up clinging to a window ledge. Just don’t mention the number 34 bus!
Things take an even more oddball turn when a slightly deranged patient (Steve Ashcroft) and Bonney’s mother (Liz Hutchinson) turn up. Trousers, hints and clangers – they all get dropped in this ludicrous romp that first saw the light of day in 1987, but feels as if it dates from a decade earlier. There’s plenty of enjoyable grimacing, eyebrow-waggling and cringing as Mortimore becomes increasingly flustered when evading Nurse Tate, his colleagues and the disapproving Sir Willoughby Drake (Terry Glossop).
A varied soundtrack, featuring the likes of Goodness Gracious Me and Lady in Red (the latter is appropriate given Nurse Tate is dressed in scarlet), complements the silliness. Intellectual this ain’t and you can see some of the gags coming a mile off, but so what? The tone is jolly, the pace is frenetic and the slapstick is deftly handled by the cast, director Deborah Lisburne Diacon and stage manager Lesley Riding.
Credit too must go too to the set design team, who have even created a tiled bathroom and corridor that are only seen in passing when doors get opened and slammed shut (which is often, this being an essential ingredient of any self-respecting vintage comedy).
It Runs in the Family doesn’t outstay its welcome, running at about two hours, and is ideal pre-Christmas entertainment.