Review: Comfort and Joy

Northern comic Mike Harding is not so well known as a playwright and author even though he has written more than 40 plays and books during the last 35 years.

CADOS are presenting a lively, well-cast production this week that will have audiences in stitches as it reminds us of the pros and cons of a great family Christmas.

There are characters we all recognise from our own festive gatherings – the out-of-tune carol singers, the new neighbours, the relatives who flock home for the holidays, the daughter’s new boyfriend ... with a name like Crispin will he fit in with this northern family?

It turns out that Crispin has one of the funniest parts in the play when he attempts to play charades ... a game he has never played before with a family he has never met before!

Add to all this is a menagerie of animals.

A dog called Trumpton who barks from the wings creating further havoc with his windy bottom smells; two frightened cats who’ve had an ‘accident’ in the car; 12 stick insects who get mixed up with a bowl of twiglets – oh and not forgetting the turkey who, although cooked , was last seen being dragged down the path by the dog and cats having a tug of war.

The living room set is lovely.

Alan Pearson is hilarious as Goff, the patriarch of the family.

Kath Ashworth must have had fun directing the hysterical cast with their laugh-out-loud funny lines.

They’re on top form as they enter into (and drink a lot of) the Christmas spirit!

Oh and I mustn’t forget the aliens! It runs until Saturday.

Jenny Robson