A Christmas Getaway to enjoy at Lichfield's Garrick

New Old Friends is an independent theatre company which was set up in 2008 and is run by husband and wife team director, Feargus Woods Dunlop and creative producer Heather Westwell.

In 2014 the couple's reputation as producers of family-friendly, genre-based comedy was established with their production of The Falcon's Malteser which they later staged at The Edinburgh Fringe in 2015. The company has since gone from strength to strength with a series of successful murder mysteries.

In 2016 the company co-produced Crimes Against Christmas at Lichfield Garrick, which was an Agatha Christie style murder mystery, multi-role farce with just four actors. It was a great success and resulted in the company being invited back to Lichfield over the next few years.

This year's Christmas production, A Christmas Getaway is a classic British farce, with nods to P.G.Wodehouse and Morecambe and Wise.

The show is set in the Jameson family country home, which is in the process of being sold where all the family members arrive to enjoy Christmas Eve. However everyone has planned their getaway in secret with their lovers and are unaware of the presence of the other family members. The father is with the next door neighbour, the mother is with her daughter's fiance, the young maid is with the local labourer and the daughter is with her French lover. The poorly paid butler has the job of keeping them all apart whilst trying to extract a Christmas bonus and the family valuables from the attic, aided by the Scottish maid who he longs to marry.

If this was not complicated enough just four actors play these multiple roles, with quick fire costume changes, fast talking and fast paced farce.

Connie Watson has done a sterling job with a set with hidden chests allowing for quick getaways from family members while her costumes allow for the quick changes whilst not detracting from the characters. Effective lighting helps the set to 'change' and the choreography is slick letting the actors move from one area and character to another without colliding.

Wolverhampton-born Philip Butler is on stage throughout and provides quick fire tongue twisters as the narrator/ butler setting the pace for the rest of the cast. Brummie Rosie Coles is marvellous as the daughter and has two farcical scenes in the second half. Firstly wearing half the young maid's costume and half the local labourer's costume in a scene where they both declare their love. Next in a scene where she plays the labourer, adorned with a ladder trying to climb into the attic.

Stuart Tavendale shows his adaptability with a range of characters and accents. playing the father, the daughter's french lover and the daughter's fiance who is a complete buffoon. Kirsty Cox is marvellous as the older Scottish maid, the mother, the neighbour and in one of the highlights of the show playing three carol singers at the same time! It is however the cocktail scene, between the butler and Scottish maid which is the highlight of the show and pays homage to the Morecambe and Wise breakfast sketch.

A Christmas Getaway with both exhaust and delight you, in equal measures and is running until December 31 at Lichfield Garrick Studio.

By Sarah Derry