THE LATEST offering from Roger Goddard "Cold Meat" was billed as "a sitcom with each of the five scenes being the equivalent of an episode" and it was just that. This was great traditional British comedy - it had a fantastic cast of characters, wonderful one-liners, plenty of double entendre and innuendos, farcical situations and a sprinkling of thought-out malapropisms. It led to ripples of laughter throughout and a fair amount of real laugh-out-loud moments. Cold Meat was also traditional in that it was set in middle class suburbia, the whole piece was played out in the kitchen of John and Elizabeth and there was plenty of wine-swigging between the conversation and scenarios. It worked perfectly in the Norbury Theatre's studio - a simple but functional set and the small venue enhanced that atmosphere that was homely on the one hand and sometimes claustrophobic on the other. All of the comedy came from the characters, those who liked each other and those who did not and clashed and the situations which arose. Ironically when looking at one aspect of British sitcom we have to turn to a German word and there is plenty of schadenfreude in Cold Meat. In fact, the whole script is based on it and it works brilliantly. The best performances of the night went to Mike Richardson as John who just wanted a quiet life and to enjoy the odd joke or two and Joy Williamson as the promiscuous Angela. She was beautifully over-the-top as she drifted in and out of the couple's home, shedding light on her latest string of dates and trying her luck with Peter. Roy Watton as Peter was also good, over-dramatically complaining as his ailments got progressively worse, while Helen Bourke was sound as Elizabeth whose main aim in life was to maintain the equilibrium among the crazy characters around her. The supporting characters Elizabeth's mum Mary (Zena Schtyk) and Romanian home-help Myra (Tanith Garcia) played their parts and added to the comedy, especially Tanith with her "broken English" reminiscent of Manuel in Fawlty Towers. It's not all comedy though and there are serious strands to the play which everyone relate to -the process of getting old for those later on in life and their loved ones "making excuses" for their own peace of mind regarding progressive elderly illness. Overall though, in our everyday lives, we are often sandwiched between doom and gloom in the national news and with everything going on around us. Cold Meat provides us with fantastic filling of comedy to offer us something different and there is also a nice twist at the end to explain the title.

A WELL-DESERVED standing ovation awaited the 70+ cast which staged this superb Snow White at Bromsgrove's Artrix. There were so many highlights in this show even before the dwarfs made an appearance on the stage and when they did they had the "awww"factor as well as delivering some very funny lines. The slapstick kitchen scene was absolutely hilarious, featuring an exploding microwave, the audience getting soaked by a water pistol-wielding dame and even an impressive tap-dancing routine that said dame "Senna Pod" joined in with whilst singing "Fry Me to the Moon". David Mann, who played Senna, was fantastic throughout. In panto I always say "a groan is as good as a laugh" and he got the lion's share of those with all his terrifically timed one-liners - almost like stand-up in parts as the gags came thick and fast. His scene with the gorilla, the prince (well played by Connor Winter) and the Valet (Archie Marks) in the second half was definitely one for the adults with some beautifully delivered innuendo and double-entendre. Tanith Garcia took the "evil" role to new heights as Queen Drucilla - she revelled in the boos as she nonchalantly strut across the stage frequently exchanging unpleasantries with the crowd and even other members of the cast. Graham Forbes made the role of the magic mirror his own and had the audience in hysterics every time he made appeared. Dave Healing as Neville the Chamberlain was his perfect foil - the two had a great rapport which led to loads of laughs. You could see Anja Parkes was relishing playing the title role as Princess Snow White and she also had the magical musical moment of the evening in the "Count On Me" duet with Ciara Lane as Rose. The two were pitch-perfect and harmonised magnificently together. Elsewhere, Ken Messenger as Hans the Hunchman, Rachel McDonnell as Fairy Light, James Ralley as Muddles and Neil Lane as Barry Trotter and Vanessa Morgan as Hannah all put in solid performances. There were plenty of Brexit jokes (as you would expect) and some great local references as well - including the dwarfs being concerned about the Chancellor of the Exchequer taxing them heavily on the gains from their diamond mine. And, of course, we cannot let this review go by without mentioning A&S's trademark UV light show which always delights when it takes the production into the interval. It seems to get better every year. In the same way the Queen asks if she "is the fairest of them all", we need to ask if this was "director Alison Berrisford's most flamboyant panto of them all" and do you know what? I think it was.