Well, he’s done it again. Roger Hall’s unerring ability to combine affectionate social comment, characters we recognise as Us and circumstances where sharp one-liners pop up as naturally as breathing – all this finds fresh expression in his latest sure fire contribution to theatre coffers.

A captivated opening night audience echoed the applause already greeting this play in Wellington [and before that in Aucklnad], no doubt heralding ongoing rounds of enthusiastic approval. It is theatre of reassurance regarding who we hope we are.

Experiencing a couple of hours in the company of the new Hall characters is like meeting people one has already heard a lot about. They are instantly familiar yet full of idiosyncratic touches which  keep us engaged as two Kiwi couples, adrift under the liberating spell of an Italian holiday deal initially with the rigours of travel but then even more frantically with each other.

Director Ross Gumbley is adept at manipulating comedic tensions in this thoroughly well crafted production. 

Alison and Adrian are retired librarians, given to literary and artistic preoccupations, cautious pre-planning, scrimping, and voting Labour. Harry and Judy have quite different leanings. They are last minute replacements for the friends originally intended to make up a foursome. This explains the utter incompatibility of views and values between the travel mates.

Budgets, food, sex, entertainment, life itself are explored for humorous and sometimes poignant comparisons. The answers to just about everything seem to lie in wine and music and being kind.

The play is mostly narrated by Adrian, a wryly reflective somewhat bookish fellow, but it is not limited to his perceptions. Different pairings of the four ensure a more rounded idea of relationships, allowing satisfying back stories to come to light. As encounters with la dolce vita move from stints in Venice and Rome to an extended stay in a Tuscan villa, underlying explanations for the way people behave are carefully unravelled and all the lightening up reaches a dizzy and sentimental conclusion.

On the way, incidents are predictably very funny. The meals, the driving, the tourist traps and eventually the unexpected/ expected cameraderie and resolution of differences keep the play bubbling along like a good spumante.

Geoffrey Heath pitches the bumbling narrator intelligently so that he is not just an excuse to laugh, but a real man faced with a grey future and a burden of unassuaged guilt. He is well matched by his stage partner Aison, played by Yvonne Martin. She presents us with a self righteous and wounded woman as well as the ridiculous, disapproving frump who lives by the book rather than her senses.

The work of the contrasting couple is similarly well layered. Ken Blackburn is a wonderfully down to earth retired plumber Harry, grunting out laconic responses or frank observations with complete authority. As his second wife and ex-secretary Judy, Lynda Milligan brings genuine  warmth to a hedonistic airhead role.

Then there are the Italians! Playing a whole caboodle of roles, including very sexy scene changers, Sandra Rasmussen and Jonathan Martin cut loose. They carry the ‘lighten up’ initiative with entertaining verve.

Since Tuscany is virtually a life-affirming character in the play, it is fitting that Harold Moot’s set is invitingly mellow and inventive. The gondola, the car, the beds, the stars … and the wide shallow space of Court One all work very well, complemented by lighting design (Josh Major) schmaltzy sound (Geoff Nunn)and, in particular, cleverly suggestive costume (Beryl Hampson).

The entertaining world we visit may be a warmed up version of reality but it carries nevertheless a significant truthfulness. It represents the way we like to see ourselves. How else to account for  an extraordinary statistic for this production, where on opening night 82% of available seats for the season have been booked. It may not ruffle our complacent lives for longer than an evening of laughter but it certainly works.
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