Nobody's Perfect

What a welcome! The Summer Theatre Company is back in town and their opening production was received with many a chuckle and a cheer.

Nobody's Perfect, by actor Simon Williams (of Upstairs Downstairs fame) has all the hallmarks of a classic British TV sitcom: characters you warm to, lots of banter and funny one-liners, and a plot that throws up all kinds of tricky-dicky situations. And in true seaside humour fashion, whenever the word 'balls' is uttered, there is uproarious laughter.

“What a tangled web we weave when first we jump into women's clothing,” says Leonard, boring statistician turned cross-dressing female author of romantic fiction. Having won – under false pretences – a writing competition, his life as a lone parent of a teenage daughter and protector of a rascally old dad is turned upside down and inside out. Daughter Dee Dee and her Granpy join forces to help Lenny 'get a life', with Granpy leading by example with his karaoke contests and Murder Mystery weekends.

Smoothly directed by Nicky Matthews, the four actors give fine comic performances – Sheringham newcomers Penelope Rawlins, as teenager Dee Dee, and Sophie Bevan, as publisher Harriet, work well with last year favourites Robert Meadwell, as Lenny, and Roger Bingham, as Granpy Gus. A man dressed as a woman and trying to pass himself off as a woman rarely fails in the theatrical hilarity stakes and Meadwell's transformation was no exception.

t The play continues until Saturday, July 10