Double bill of comedy delights in idyllic garden setting

They will be in action at The Pergola Open Air Theatre, West Dean Gardens, West Dean, Chichester, PO18 0RX. On June 27, July 1, 3, 5, 9 & 11 (from 5.30pm for 7.30pm), the entertainment will be Ayckbourn’s Round And Round The Garden, the acclaimed comedy from his Norman Conquests trilogy. On June 28, July 2, 4, 8, 10 & 12 (from 5.30pm for 7.30pm), they take to their open-air stage with The Drunkard Or Down With Demon Drink!, a rollicking Victorian musical melodrama.

The latter is a piece of huge significance for company chairman Peter Breskal, just as it was for company founder John Hyatt, who passed away three years ago.

As Peter says: “The thinking behind the two shows is what is going to be entertaining and what will work well in the open air and which shows will work well together. It's great to do the Alan Ayckbourn favourite, a play which is considered by many to be the best of his Norman Conquests trilogy. It's very popular and won lots of awards and is very relevant still. It's about relationships and given that it is set in a Victorian garden, you couldn't ask for a better play for us to do. It's a natural one for us.

“Ayckbourn gives you the interactions between people and you also get relationship problems as well at the same time. It will be good fun.”

Peter himself is directing The Drunkard Or Down With Demon Drink!

“We have done it before. It will be eight years ago now which is quite a long time but there are several reasons for doing it. I think first of all I am guided by John's attitude to theatre and that remains with me even though he has passed away. He loved this play. It's a Victorian musical melodrama which has been adapted by Brian J Burton. You have got a colourful mix of characters including the heroine and the hero and the villain of the deepest dye. You've also got the fussy spinster, and all these people come together in colourful and entertaining scenes which are interspersed with very catchy songs. They don't have to be sung by people that are singers per se. They are songs for actors.

“And when I am directing it, I am thinking about how John used to think and about how John used to work. I knew him so well that I think I'm the right person to do this. We're doing it as a kind of homage to him but it will also be great fun and very entertaining for the audience. When you're watching it, if you get into the spirit of it and go along with it, you will have a great time. The watchwords for this are rollicking good fun!

“And when I'm rehearsing it I really can see John looking down and saying ‘Yes that will be alright, Breskal!’ or ‘Don’t do that, Breskal!’ I don't make any bones about being influenced by him. I feel really lucky to have known him, and to be influenced by somebody with his gift for the theatre is to have something that not many people have been lucky enough to enjoy.”