Service with A Smile (Salford)

Venue: The Lowry
Where: Salford

Ever since it opened, staff at the Lowry have been giving service with a smile but, now, past and present employees are giving Service with a Smile in a different way – for that is the name of their own comedy sketch show.

A cast of 15 present 24 hilarious situations, guaranteed to raise a laugh. Most of them are already forging careers in theatre and some have appeared on television. The young worker’s theatre company are lucky that theatre, film and television director, Noreen Kershaw, agreed to direct them.

She ensures perfect timing and a musical signal to introduce each new sketch. The use of onscren images adds colour and clarity. Praise must go to the sketch writers, too. In terms of the pieces, I especially enjoyed Luke Tenant’s Godfather, the Musical, which takes a cynical and exaggerated look at musical theatre.

The Dumping of Dave by Brainne Edge covers three episodes.  A girl uses every trick in the book to ditch her man saying she looks upon him as a brother rather than a lover and other increasingly complicated excuses to part company.  Still he won’t let go. When she says “I’m leaving you”, his reply is “That is so clichéd!” bringing the house down.

A lion with a personality of his own features in Dan Lomas’s Inappropriate Gift and Ralph Corke’s Pride and Promiscuity takes a humorous look at Jane Austen’s husband hunting girls.

This feelgood show is well worth seeing.

-Julia Taylor