Dirty Dusting - BATS Review
From start to finish, this play is rib-ticklingly funny! Innuendo, smut, coarse, rude – there a so many superlatives I could use to describe this play, but there is one thing for sure, the audience loved every minute of it!
Neil Gredecki directs this comedy by Ed Waugh and Trevor Wood with style, resulting in many a laugh out loud moments as the idea of making a few extra quid takes hold and the phones begin to ring.
Set in an office, the effective set was well used. A duo of back to back desks and chairs at stage centre, complete with filing cabinets, telephones and the obligatory brew station.
As 3 elderly cleaners work their shift, we soon get to grips with the lives of these 3 characters. Each with an interesting tale to tell, about the very different lives they lead, the trio seem to do a lot of chatting and very little dusting. On one particular shift they are furious about their pending redundancy but as the spats fly, they are disturbed by a wrong number phone call from a gentleman wishing to access X- rated telephone services. As they are discussing how disgusting this is, they soon become deep in conversation about the financial benefits of such activities, and before they know it, they have talked themselves in to setting up their own chatline, to be known as ‘Telephone belles’ – and this is where the fun starts.
Andrea Peters as Elsie is super as she storms her way through getting the chatline set up. A great pace setter, Andrea ensured proceedings were kept bobbing along. Andrea also used her many years’ experience to pause for laughs, which is so important in comedy.
As Olive, Hannah Boardman is dry witted and knows how to deliver a comedic line. Along with some great facial expressions and an assumed accent with tomes of Hyacinth Bucket, Hannah used facial expressions at every opportunity to ensure maximum comedic effect was achieved.
Jeanette Wilkinson completed the trio with an initial prudish attitude to the situation, but she soon proves to be the top performing call handler with a renewed libido, much to the detriment of her husband’s health, as he has had to seek medical attention following an unusual busy time.
Oblivious to the goings on in his office, office boss Dave is played by Nicholas Worthington. Brash, male chauvinist and downright arrogant, Dave throws his weight about and putting the women down. This is until realisation sets in, and he is exposed as a client with a fetish for hoovers– an interesting twist.
In the setting of The Turnpike Gallery, where the society transform the space into a theatre for the run of their production, this production lived up to its genre if being a comedy – it was certainly very funny!
Thank you for your kind hospitality to myself and my guest, Danny.
Paul Cohen - BATS
25th June 2026
TBC