THE story of how Lock Up Your Daughters came to the stage is almost as convoluted as the plot of the musical itself. Comedian Bernard Miles found the manuscript of an 18th century play, Rape Upon Rape by the novelist Henry Fielding, and decided to adapt it for the London stage in the 1950s. With the help of composer Laurie Johnson and Lyricist Lionel Bart, a musical version of the play was created and successfully performed in the West End.The Irving Stage Company has tackled this play before, in 1972. Well-respected for their straight drama productions, the company has set itself a difficult task in attempting a combined farce and musical which has to reconcile the comic tastes and social comment of three different eras — the 1730s, the 1950s and the present day. A talented cast sang, danced and worked hard to give life to the very stylised characters in what was almost a pantomime.Sian Couture was suitably attractive and lively as Hilaret, the innocent daughter whose development almost lands her in very hot water. As her suitor, Captain Constant, Derek Bourke, reminded me of a full size Ronnie Corbett — or a poor man’s Pierce Brosnan. The corrupt Justice Squeezum (Barry Barker) and his equally lascivious wife Mrs Squeezum (Diane Shaw) were good value, delivering their comic songs effectively.Ramble, the rakehell ladies’ man, and Sotmore, his friend who would rather take the top off a bottle of wine than a woman, were ably impersonated by Chris Longman and Andrew Deane. Longman was faultlessly foppish and the sight of Deane clicking his heels in the air while singing was almost worth the price of admission on its own! Although rape was cried, threatened and attempted throughout the play, there was no sexual violence involved — as explained in the epilogue, the authors didn’t want to put off the ladies in the audience. It was all good, clean fun, dressed up in the flirtatious pretence of sin. The ending, with vice punished and virtue rewarded, long lost wives sons and brothers turning up on all sides and an approved wedding for the eloping couple, was as conventional a happy ending as any reader of fairy tales, ancient or modern, could desire.

GAYLE WADE - Bury Free Press

THIS production was an absolute delight. The musical play which launched Bernard Miles’ famous Mermaid Theatre back in 1959 and was adapted by him from an obscure Henry Fielding comedy, with music by Laurie Johnson and lyrics by a then unknown Lionel Bart, has more than withstood the test of time. Brilliantly designed and directed by Ray Dyer, this production is a tremendous credit to the amateur theatre. The plot is very corny, with coincidence following coincidence as various 18th Century rakes attempt and sometimes succeed in the ravishing of a number of innocent and not-so-innocent maidens.It requires a tongue-in-cheek style of acting, not to mention a high degree of hamming it up. But it requires a very talented company to successfully and deliberately ham a performance. The Irving Company had the people to do this and an excellent director to keep it tight.I was also very impressed by the choreography by Sian Couture. She kept it simple but it was varied and she had all the cast in time, every time - not always easy in an amateur company. These numbers added much to the production.-Ms Couture also took the female lead of Hilaret and what a wonderful job she made of that, too. She looked gorgeous, sang beautifully, and handled the comedy to perfection. I also enjoyed the performance of Chris Longman as the very randy Ramble. Barry Barker as the sleazy lecherous Justice Squeezum was another gem of a performance, as was that of Diane Shaw as his scheming wife

SCOTT DOLLING - East Anglian Daily Times