For the Richmond Theatre going audiences. The Good Life looks like a perfect night out. Based on the classic TV sitcom which ran from 1975 to 1978 over four seasons and set in nearby Surbiton with themes of self-sufficiency, work-life balance debates and relations with your neighbours could there be a better time to adapt this for the stage than now post-pandemic?
Jeremy Sams has adapted some of John Esmonde and Bob Larbey’s original scripts for the stage and directed the show (always I think a risk to adapt and direct yourself). He borrows from Episode 1 Plough your own Furrow when Tom decides on his fortieth birthday that he is missing “It” and with encouragement from his wife Barbara decides to give up work and become self-sufficient. The dinner party with his old boss Sir Andrew from Series 1 Episode 4 Pagan Rite, Margot’s attempts to be in the Sound of Music from Series 2 Episode Mutiny and the birth of piglets from Series 3 Episode 2 The Happy Event become core scenes in the play. Sams’ weaves this together into a seamless development of the Good’s relationship with their neighbours The Leadbetter's. It is cleverly staged in a design by Michael Taylor with rotating walls that smoothly switch us from the Good’s house to the Leadbetter’s house with plenty of seventies references to set the period, although perhaps the differentiation between the two rooms could be stronger.
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The production is well cast with good actors led by Rufus Hound as Tom and Sally Tatum as Barbara with Preeya Kalidas as Margot and Dominic Rowan as Jerry. However, we never quite escape the shadow of the original TV cast which like all great sitcoms had powerful chemistry between characters who while being strongly differentiated blended together perfectly with underlying affection for each other behind the barbed put-downs. The stage cast doesn’t attempt impressions of the originals but develops their own version with recognizable traits. Tom is slightly bewildered and frustrated by his efforts at a new life. Barbara is supportive and caring. Margot is aloof and self-centred, and Jerry is weakly accepting of his home life. Curiously it is the two other supporting actors Nigel Betts (as Sir Andrew, The Pigman and Dr Joe) and Tessa Churchard (as Felicity and the Milkwoman) who provide the easiest laughs with their strong characters and rapid costume changes and help develop the farcical later scenes with two swinging doors as entrances. The biggest laugh of all comes from Geraldine the animatronic goat who demonstrates it is a fully functioning animal! When the runt eighth piglet is delivered and needs to be saved from drowning the farce develops but feels too drawn out to deliver the big finish.
The Richmond audience seemed to enjoy the nostalgic look back at a period and a TV Show that those who saw it have fond memories of and we continue to recognise the likeable charming stereotypes of the central four characters. We have all considered work-life balance and the impact of global warming on the way we live our lives, so the themes resonate. But somehow either our humour has changed, or we remember it funnier than it was or quite simply Richard Briers, Felicity Kendall, Penelope Keith, and Paul Eddington were such perfect casting that it was an impossible act to follow even for this good cast. Review by Nick Wayne
Rating: ★★★
Seat: Stalls, Row G | Price of Ticket: £40
