Online edition of Sunday Observer

Local theatre fans starved for a hearty side-splitter can look ahead to a rollicking evening out when the riotous farce, "Run for Your Wife", a comedy by the British playwright Ray Cooney, steals the Boards of Lionel Wendt from August 15.

This fine-tuned production by the PAC (Performing Arts Company), promising more polish, slick and fun (if indeed that is possible!) than when presented eight years ago, is once again principally funded by the Commercial Bank.

The story is very simple - but made incredibly complicated by a roller-coaster blend of "little white lies", suspicions, deception and curiosity.

The pivot of "Run for Your Wife", John Smith, is a London cabbie and owns his taxie and the knife-edged schedule he runs to stick to. John, married to Mary, lives in Wimbeldon. John, married to Barbara, lives 4 1/2 minutes away, in Steatham. As long as each "other half" is blissfully unaware of the "extra half", life is a lark for John. But, come the day when John goes gallant in a mugging incident and suffers a mild concussion which rips the seams off his tongue and the cat steals out of the bag.

John, the brave combatant, very reluctantly helped by friend Stanley, braves the extricacies brought on by two well-meaning but prying policemen, the press, the increasingly irascible wives and an extremely gay neighbour. But, as inevitable, one lie leads to another and in the disastrous crash to the final countdown, neither John nor Stanley can make out which is true and which is wild concoction. If you harbour a secret whim for a second spouse, don't act on it until you see "Run for Your Wife!"

The Actors

The cast figures familiar faces from the previous production. Jerome de Silva once again pulling a plumb role as "Bobby Franklin" the gay neighbour; Sean Amarasekera, the unwitting accomplice; Johann Peries, the easy-going "family-man" policeman; Deshan Devasagayam, the regimental "no-nonsense" detective; and Mohamed Adamaly, the cabbie who waffled his "wife-ing gamble" with adroit help from the very wifely and experienced pro's Neidra Williams and Wanda Godlieb. And a guest appearance by Feroze Kamardeen.

"It's looking really great," remarks Adam (Adamally) on the production. "Many theatre fans repeatedly requested us to present 'Run for Your Wife' again - and we resisted the temptation for eight years. This time around we have exploited the maturity of the actors and actresses to focus on giving a tighter, slicker and more professional production of the play. The cast have fitted into their roles marvellously." Besides the principal sponsors, Sinwa, Dialog and Yes FM co-sponsor "Run for Your Wife."

The Play

Run for Your Wife, a work of the prolific comedy playwright Ray Cooney, was a smash-hit launch for the Theatre Company of London when the play was first performed in West End in October 1982.

"Frolic? It is much more than that," stated the Daily Telegraph, reviewing the script. "It is a triumph, the brilliance of structure, the imaginative joy and the scope for comic acting."

The play was also PAC's maiden hit in 1994 and set the pace for siblings Nafeesa Amiruddeen and Mohamed Adamaly to seal comedy as their theatrical mainstay with productions such as "Don't Dress for Dinner", "Funny Money" and Shaffer's "Black Comedy" following in quick succession.