Review: WHO'S IN BED WITH THE BUTLER? at ARTS Theatre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Thursday 13th March 2023.

Michael Parker's farce, Who's in Bed with the Butler?, is the latest from the Adelaide Repertory Theatre Society, whose initials give their theatre its name. The production is directed, with a good eye for comic timing, by Warren Mckenzie. True to the farce form, the play has identity confusion, several scantily clad beauties, and lots of doors and other entrances. A little more pace here and there would help, but it was opening night, and no doubt this will come.

Californian billionaire, William Olden, has died. When the will was read, his daughter, Constance, discovered that Josephine Sykes had been given his 22 million dollar yacht, Renee LaFleur had been left a 25 million dollar art collection, and Marjorie Merivale gets his fleet of antique motor cars. Constance has never heard of any of the three women. With her lawyer, Roy Vance, in tow, she arrives at the mansion, where she is met by the butler, Clifton, and ancient, deaf housekeeper, Agnes, who refuses to leave her hearing aid turned on, to save batteries, moves only slightly faster than a sleepy tortoise, and has a pet rat named Oscar, a rattus norvegicus with the skill of Harry Houdini. It continually gets loose to roam the house and scare some of the ladies. Clifton explains to Constance that the three women were, at various times, William's lovers.

Constance has invited the three women to the mansion and, by threatening to contest the will, hopes to persuade them to accept a smaller amount of money, but it transpires that the yacht, artworks, and cars were all sold by William to the mysterious Bimbo Corporation, registered offshore in the Caicos Islands. That corporation has now, it seems, sold all of those assets. Nobody seems to know what The Bimbo Corporation might be, nor who owns it. Tracking down the missing millions becomes the main aim.

Things have become complicated for Clifton, as Renee has written to tell him that she is ready for a new relationship and that he is the object of her desire. He has hired an actress, Susie Legere, to pretend to be his recently acquired wife, in order to dissuade Renee, but all to no avail, as she isn't at all bothered by his marital status. Worse, when they all arrive, it transpires that he was also involved with the other two, and each of the three is lusting after him.

Adding to the mayhem is the accident-prone, completely inept, private investigator, William Davis Jr., who has been hired by Roy Vance to look into The Bimbo Corporation. Parker borrows from Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1775 play, The Rivals, cramming every possible Malapropism into the defective detective's dialogue.

Patrick Clements is the quintessential English butler, Clifton, impeccable in dress and manners, but not for long. Unlike Wodehouse's Jeeves, Clifton's cunning plans do not run smoothly. Clements cleverly handles the hilarious transition from cool, calm, and collected, to a nervous wreck with half of his clothes ripped off, thanks to the amorous advances of the three wild women.

His partner in deception, Susie, is played by Laura Antoniazzi, who delights with her manipulation of Clifton over her payment for pretending to be his wife, when Suzie realises that she has him over a barrel. It gets better, as she discovers further ways of getting ahead, and develops her own agenda. Clifton gets his money's worth, though, as Suzie saves him from several difficult moments. Antoniazzi is wonderful as the crafty guardian angel.

Julie Quick plays Agnes, bringing laughter with her every appearance as she bumbles around, oblivious to much of what is happening around her, and frustrating the other characters. Her considerable experience is in evidence.

Connie is played by Maxine Grubel, who also brings a wealth of experience to her role. She portrays a no-nonsense, businesslike woman, determined to hang on to her late father's possessions. Her comedy comes from her reaction to having been deprived of those possessions given to the three women, then to her reaction to finding that they have already been disposed of to a corporation, and grows as they are found to have been sold on by The Bimbo Corporation, and that the money raised cannot be located. There is much fun as she harries Vance, and is confused by the incomprehensibility of Davis.

Stephen Bills plays Vance, the lawyer who is solely interested in his percentage of the millions saved by convincing the three women to accept a smaller cash payout. There are plenty of laughs from his performance as Vance, seeing his fee vanishing, and progressing from anger to panic as he realises that he will actually be out of pocket, rather than in clover.

The French woman, Renee, played by Anita Pipprell, the English woman, Josephine, played by Kayla Cranfield, and the tall Californian, Marjorie, played by Jessica McGaffin, are William's, and Clifton's, three paramours. The play is written so that one person can play all three roles, or they can be played by three people, as in this case. Pipprell, Cranfield, and McGaffin create lively, fun characters, each complementing the others. They are a well-balanced trio giving us distinctly different characters, but all with the same goal, each chasing the beleaguered butler in her own very funny way.

William Davis Jr is played by Josh Van't Padje who, aside from having the detective tripping over his words, adds a considerable amount of physical comedy by also tripping over just about everything on the set, as well as managing to be behind almost every opening door, spending half of his stage time laying around unconscious.

Bob Peet's set, lit by Richard Parkhill, is stylish and works well, and the costumes, by Rebecca Jarrett and Jenny Kwok, look great. Good for a laugh.

Photography, Richard Parkhill.