Wedding Of The Year – Keighley Playhouse

THE TITLE of the final production of the current Keighley Playhouse season may well suggest two solid hours of absolute chaos.

Ethel (Debbie Park) is the long-suffering mother of the Murchinson family trying to marry off the chronically unattractive daughter Alison (Kathryn Mitchell).

The first half establishes that Alison will marry Melvyn, imbecilic son of the neighbouring Thornton family, exasperatingly headed by Walter (Peter Whitley).

Frank Edwards (Adam Gregory), the family uncle, tries his best, but the Murchinson family is not helped by two spinster ladies (Jane driver and Patricia Henny) who constantly butt in with know-all observations, and the elderly matriarch Priscilla (Sheila Kershaw) who is shut away in the attic until she escapes.

But the family’s problems s problems are nothing to what the excruciatingly critical Peggy (Barbara Ramsden) from the posh street across the way has to offer.

Fortunately, an unexpected solution occurs in the second half and the wedding dress designer Harry is so successful that he falls for the unhappy would-be bride himself.

Nikki Barrett has made a great success of her directorial debut in mastering the bottomless pitfalls within this dramatic episode, supported by a keenly enterprising cast.

*Until Saturday, 7.30pm. Call 07599 890769 to check ticket availability.