Bolton Evening News

If you like hilarious evenings - and who doesn't - you will find Walmsley AODS current production much to your taste. For this performance had them rolling in the aisles. The cause of all this merriment? Shelove and Gelbart's extravaganza mined from the works of Plautus, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" played to the music of Stephen Sondheim (and some of it as difficult to sing as needs be). Had I known, in my youth, that so much fun could be found in Latin writers, I might have paid more attention to the ablative absolute. As it was, I never seemed to get beyond a chap called Balbus who was, it seemed, obsessed with building a wall. The cast of "A Funny Thing etc" really let themselves go and threw themselves into the enjoyment of their task. Led by Ernest Dawson as Pseudolus, Bill Steel as Senex, Don Howcroft as Hysterium and Graham Yardley as Lycus there is the inescapable touch of lunacy which is the true mark of farce. There was scarcely a dull moment. There can be little doubt that this production will go down in Walmsley history. Charles Petry