SOMETIMES, when you are reviewing, you need to have a look across at the audience and see how they are responding.

Halfway thorough MHP’s Jeeves and Wooster in Absolute Poppycock, we looked across and saw that audience were loving it. They were engaged and in stitches.

And that in short, is what it is all about. Many went home and went on to social media to say how much they loved this play.

Let us concentrate on the positive. It is very clear that so much hard work goes into an MHP Theatre production. It is so professional and so dedicated. The attention to detail is above and beyond.

One alway has to bear in mind that these are people who have full time jobs and full time lives and then in the evening, come up to the Playhouse (for weeks) to prepare for a play.

We loved the use of audio-visual work. It was very clever indeed especially the scenes with Corky (Alyssa Upton).

In fact the whole concept of being within a theatre (Poppycock Theatre) was clever. As audience members came in, there were singers always performing. Ginny Elliston has a particularly fine voice.

The acting. the timing, the energy and the creativity could not be faulted. Jack Downey was a tour-de-force. He is a sort of posh Jim Carrey, if you know what we mean.

The scenes with Chris Millington were worth the admission alone. We weren’t sure if the drinking scenes were ad-libbed but for the audience they were they were clearly a highlight.

Let us not forget, Eve-Marie Florence Downey’s direction. It was a huge challenge to keep such a complex plot with so many characters moving but they managed it.

One particular scene with a large number of aunts was so complex but so skilfully directed and performed.

If you suspect there is a but coming up then you would be right. There has been MHP Theatre productions such as Twelfth Night that have been quite mad and quite marvellous. Bureau of Unsent Letters was an acquired taste but we loved it. On both occasions, we know people who weren’t so keen.

However, we didn’t think March’s Time Tours worked and with Absolute Poppycock, we were just totally confused. This reviewer had absolutely no idea what was going on. For the first twenty minutes, we were hoping that the plot would be explained. Maybe we were just not paying attention.

It was clear that a number of people were playing a number of characters and that we had gone from one place to another but beyond that…….

But as we say, whether this 62-year-old journalist liked it or not, the audience adored it and this is, the entertainment industry.

We continue to be blessed with so many theatre groups in Harlow. Other areas are starved of theatre. As it says on the programme, this is where people can “try something new, build confidence and grow as performers.” So that includes being brave and ambitious.

The show continues tonight.

https://playhouseharlow.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873646896