Ian Hallard’s play Horse-Play is just wonderful and for me reminiscent of the famous Brian Rix Whitehall Theatre farces of the late 1950s and 1960s.

The five-strong starring cast of David Ames, Matt Lapinskas, Jake Maskall, Stephanie Siadatan and Nick Samson as Butterfly/Tim, Villainor/Karl, Stallion/Tom, Ingrida/Danielle and Mr Overton/Murray respectively, are just perfectly cast.

All equal in the command of their roles which just added magic to Hallard’s script. Each of them so well-versed in comedy timing, emphasising at times sarcasm to perfection and waiting for that established extra theatrical beat to get the bigger laugh. Just superb.

Special mention has to made of Ames as Butterfly Tim, whose stage presence is pure magic and through his dialogue has some of the best lines in the play. Hallard gave his character a working knowledge of Dallas and Dynasty, the high glamour American soaps of the 1980s, where he can quote full speeches, has an intricate knowledge of the actresses that have played various characters in these TV shows. Via his character, Hallard does suggest that sometimes our own lives can also resemble a soap opera, weaving in social observations and comment.

Directed by Andrew Beckett, his style is a perfect fit giving the play a pace to it that works extremely well, plus the juxtaposition device is used with great skill. 

The tag line for the play is “They’re about to have the ride of their lives…” and in true comedy style as an audience, we were included.

I do hope that Hallard considers writing a “Horse-Play 2” as I would love to see what happens to these characters, as I believe there is scope to give them another airing.

An intelligent, laugh-out-loud, witty, riotous romp of 120 minutes of joyous fun.

A pulsating thumbs-up from me!