Perfect Pitch

Published Monday 23 June 2008 at 11:15 by Andrew Liddsle

John Godber’s sparkling four-hander about culture clash on a caravan park has them rolling in the aisles at the Oldham Coliseum.

Howard Chadwick, a dead ringer for a younger Rodney Bewes and with the vocal mannerisms of Leonard Rossiter, excels as Ron, the retired headmaster who has sunk his lump sump in a mobile home.

His snobby wife, Yvonne, perfectly realised by Fiona Clarke, on the wagon while she trains for the marathon, is into amateur dramatics and Classic FM. Her prejudices about this kind of holiday are confirmed when the Neanderthal Grant, joyously caricatured by Martin Walsh, pitches up alongside in his battered hulk of a vehicle. Thea Rowland completes the outstanding cast as the dim-witted girlfriend, Steph, game for anything.

For a time it seems the two couples can bridge the class divide, until Fiona is persuaded to go to a male strip show. She staggers back a changed woman, all decorum shed, apparently liberated as much by what she’s seen as by the drink consumed. Next day, Steph innocently reveals a night of truly priapic proportions.

The fall out from this, not only between Ron and Yvonne, but also between the two couples, is intense and often hilarious. Yet amid all the hullabaloo there are echoes, skilfully orchestrated by resident director Kevin Shaw, of humanity’s still, sad music, that will not be drowned out even by a karaoke contest going on.

For one couple the whole caravan experience has been truly cathartic, while the other two get on undaunted with what they do best in their battered passion wagon.