Review of The Golden Pathway Annual at The Guildhall, Bury St. Edmunds

If you’ve ever seen your debts mount up and dreaded the postman and his daily delivery of brown bills, then you might understand that desperate times call for desperate measures. Unsuccessful inventor Aubrey Allington (Barry Barker) is in such a situation, with a large and expensive house in Marlow to run, staff to keep, wife Louise (Sian Couture) to shower with gifts and a slightly deaf aunt (Christian Jenner) to feed (and tolerate). So when his creditors are at the door and he inherits a large sum of money which reverts on his death to his cousin George Maitland, he and his wife hatch a plan to fake his death and for him to return three weeks later as the long lost cousin from Mexico — but all does not run smoothly.   This, the Irving Stage Company’s first production back at the Theatre Royal and the last to be directed by the late Ray Dyer, is a fast-paced  and joyous romp back to the 1920s with many laugh-out - loud moments.  Barry Barker and Sian Couture bounce off each other well as the hapless couple, Jean Everard relishes her role as the dim widow (who thinks any man with a beard is her husband) and Philip Thompson is hilarious as the second bogus George.

CAMILLE BERRIMAN (Bury Free Press)