The Grass Is Greener Review Liza Goddard Christopher Cazenove

The Grass Is Greener
Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne
5-10 Oct 2009

 (Performance seen 5 Oct)

Cast in order of appearance

Hilary - Liza GoddardVictor - Christopher CazenoveCharles - Jack EllisHattie - Sophie WardSellars - Giles Fagan

Yet again at the Devonshire Park Theatre we have a very impressive cast - this time it's for Hugh and Margaret Williams comedy classic The Grass Is Greener.

It's a simple story - the long time married Hilary is suddenly tempted by the handsome tourist Charles who makes an unplanned detour whilst touring their country home.
Husband Charles's aim is to win her back. Hattie is Hilary's best friend (and has always had feelings for Victor) and Sellars is the loyal family butler who finds himself stuck in the middle of all the hilarity.
Any good?
Excellent actually. It's also good to watch a comedy that is far removed from the traditional farce-type play.
With a cast of well known, established, actors like these you'd be hard pressed to fault the acting - and you can't.
In fact there isn't a lot more that you can say about this extremely funny show and the only fault with it is nothing to do with the actors.
It is shorter compared to almost any other play by about 20-30 minutes.
It is entertaining throughout but you do feel that you have been left a little short changed in terms of enjoyment time.
It is this factor alone that snatches a five star rating from this show.
Don't let this put you off seeing this thoroughly entertaining comedy though.
It's better to really enjoy a good show that is relatively short than to have to endure a longer really boring play.

It's a bonus when a cast is blessed with some of the friendliest names in show business. Best known as Ben Carrington in Dynasty Christopher Cazenove spent a lot of time chatting to the members of The Friends Of The Devonshire Park Theatre after the show. as did the lovely Liza Goddard who even had her cute little dog Cassie tagging along whilst Sophie Ward and Giles Fagan also mingled with the members signing autographs and happily having their pictures taken. Recent Coronation Street actor Jack Ellis was unable to attend the event for personal reasons. Actually on the subject of Jack Ellis he was somewhat of a revelation as the suave American ,Charles. I found that this role suited him far more than the rather wooden bookie Harry Mason he had to play in Coronation Street.

Just to recap this is a great show if you get the chance to see it - just make sure you book that taxi home that little bit earlier!

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