Cash on Delivery at the Empress

Last night I went to see the British farce Cash on Delivery at the Empress Theatre and it was so much fun!  Eric Swann (Alexander Richardson) has been defrauding the office of Social Services by accepting payments for nonexistent lodgers at his house ever since he lost his job at the Electric Company two years ago.  When Social Services becomes suspicious of so many payments being sent to the same residence, a Mr. Jenkins (Jeremy Jonsson) is sent to investigate.  Swann must enlist the help of his actual lodger Norman McDonald (Tanner Larsen) and his uncle George (Bob Skeen) in order to fool not only Jenkins but also his wife Linda (Cheryl Richardson), Norman's fiancee Brenda (Michelle Gardner), a grief counselor (Audrey Jones), an enthusiastic undertaker (Jennie Jonsson), a marriage counselor (Crystal Ahlemann), and Jenkins' uptight supervisor Ms. Cowper (Emily Jameson).  Chaos ensues as each of them are forced to tell one outrageous lie after another as well as impersonate fictional characters, including one who is supposed to have gout, one who is supposed to be deaf, and two who are supposed to be dead, until the whole thing unravels with hilarious consequences!  This show is so funny because eventually you can't remember who is impersonating whom and I, along with the entire audience, laughed and laughed at all of their antics!  Every member of the cast has brilliant comedic timing, but Richardson and Larsen are particularly fun to watch because they become more and more overwrought as their plans go awry. The fast-paced physical comedy is an absolute hoot, especially when one of the characters who is pretending to be dead is stuffed into a window seat and when all of the characters run around slamming doors.  I thoroughly enjoyed this show and I highly recommend it but it is a limited engagement so get your tickets (go here) soon.