Flagons & Foxtrots, Fortune Theatre, Saturday, November 14.
It's 1964, and there's a lot going on at the Memorial Hall in Mosgiel.
Grumpy Sid, who runs the dance hall, is so behind the times that he thinks old records are better to dance to than the local Archie Moore Trio, who are just dying for a lucky break.
He's equally obtuse when it comes to daughter Jillian's love life, and to Aunty Ina, general helper and cake-baker, who's had her eye on him for years.
This is the era when bands wore suits and narrow ties, car boots were full of alcohol and Kiwi men simply couldn't bring themselves to say ''I love you''.
During the second half the action alternates between the hall's interior, where the dance is in progress, and the car park outside where some of the play's most important events and conversations happen.
Alison Quigan and Ross Gumbley's script relies heavily on ''Down the hall on Saturday night'' stereotypes, but is brought to life by the actors. Phil Vaughan's Sid is cantankerous but sympathetic.
Cheryl Amos, as Aunty Ina, bustles about dispensing the kind of wisdom that goes with tea and fish-paste sandwiches. Will Alexander, James Foster and Jared Kirkwood engagingly play the boys in the band, and Nadia Shaw Bennett and Kathleen Burns project glamour and individuality as the two young women with whom their lives are romantically intertwined. Special mention should go to audience members who generously, if not always voluntarily, took on roles as dance-floor extras.
There are a few punches (though a cat-fight between the two young women goes on for just too long) and some great dancing, notably a lesson in the energetic Gay Gordons.
Neither sophisticated nor particularly original, Flagons & Foxtrots (directed here by Melanie Luckman) nonetheless has energy, warmth and loads of nostalgia. It's sure to be popular with audiences who enjoy an undemanding, feel-good comedy with a musical bonus.
- Barbara Frame
