Kevin Bourke
MAGGIE Fox and Sue Ryding have been doing silly theatrical things as Lip Service for very nearly 25 years now.
In the process, they've become a much-loved, award-winning ensemble, even as they laid into the likes of Sherlock Holmes (Move Over Moriarty), the Brontes (Withering Looks) and classical mythology (Hector's House).
But Desperate To Be Doris, a jolly celebration of the music of Doris Day and the indomitability of the human spirit, complete with singalongs, is surely one of the most purely enjoyable of their shows.
Realising that everyone knows and probably loves such Day-associated tunes as Que Sera Sera, The Deadwood Stage, Secret Love and The Black Hills Of Dakota; enthused by afternoons on end watching innocently camp films like Calamity Jane, The Pajama Game and Pillow Talk; and inspired by the revelation that, despite her turbulent personal life, Day was, like them, in what they describe as "the cheering up business", they've come up with this irresistible lark with a heart.
Nightwear factory
By day, Dean (Darren Southworth, from their cross-dressing production of The Importance Of Being Earnest) is a salesman in a nightwear factory called The Pajama Game.
But by night he dreams of singing like Doris - cue ebullient dream sequences involving the show's umpteen-strong Community Chorus.
But will the arrival of new boss Candida Pryce (one of the many parts played by Sue) sully everything for Dean and his workmates, such as the eccentric, inappropriately-named Joy, I.T Ian and the less than fragrant Sam (all played by Maggie)?
Will Dean be able to rescue Candida's improbable ‘Doris-less' amateur production of Calamity Jane, and will Joy ever remember her one line - or is that two?
Add such lovely grace notes as a lively poodle puppet named Petula, a suspiciously small theatre critic named "Kenneth Blood" from the Evening News who indicates his approval of a show by buying a strawberry Mivvi ice-cream from the kiosk, and even some roller-skating nuns and you've got a hugely enjoyable, good-hearted show that it's hard to resist. In fact, I think I feel a strawberry Mivvi coming on!