Showing @ King’s Theatre, Edinburgh until Sat 25 May

Following Downton Abbey’s popularity, producers seem stuck trying emulate it’s success with programmes like Upstairs Downstairs and The Paradise now also on UK televisions. However Patrick Barlow’s satirical take on the early 1900s, instead revels in the reserved pomposity of Britain at that time. In 1930s London, trying to assist a mysterious woman, Richard Hannay (Richard Ede) finds himself framed for murder. His attempts to straighten the situation out while keeping away from the law take him from England to Scotland, meeting a variety of caricatured characters played by Charlotte Peters, Tony Bell and Gary Mackay.

This light-hearted tongue in cheek spy-novel parody delivers big slapstick laughs with physical theatre movements, wrapped in the wistful brown paper of the World War era. It harks back to shows like ‘Allo ‘Allo! and Dad’s Army but the text’s boundless wit, the cast’s comic timing and the endless limits for parody, show the slapstick up as a weaker element of the comedy. The ingenuity of the physical theatre side (wind signified by fluttering hats of flapping coat tails) is a pleasingly engaging way to approach the technical process, matching the inherent silliness of the rest of the play.

Adapted from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film, Barlow’s text is specifically for a cast of four, meaning Maria Aitken is exceedingly inventive in getting across the original’s key points. The maniacal doubling of Mackay and Bell during the train station scene not only conveys the journey to Scotland but turns the simple part of plotting into one of the highlights of the show. This lack of actors also increases the humour; the rather frenetic movements between character changes corresponding with the fast-paced dialogue of the narrative. The scope for ridicule, either through the (heavily stereotyped) accents, the period or the genre, is so big that the more absurd the action, the more it seems like it was meant to happen. This is a riotous and enjoyable romp through a type of story usually depicted in a far more serious light.

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