GHOST WRITER

"Laughter galore..." "Long may the Players continue to keep audiences laughing..."

PETER HUNTER	Allan McPhail	BRIAN RUNNICLES	Derek Green
FRANCIS HUNTER	Karen Moir	LESLIE BROMHEAD	Peter Capaldi
ELEANOR HUNTER	Claire Wilson	DELIVERY WOMAN	Ann McTaggart
MR NEEDHAM	Drew Anderson	SUSAN	Moira Goldie
BARBARA	Janice Gordon

There was laughter galore at Cumbernauld Theatre when the ever-popular Apex Players presented their latest offering on Friday and Saturday.

"No Sex Please - We're British!" was an adults-only comedy, the type of thing at which Apex excels. It is not everyone's cup of tea, but if you like farce then this was a good one. The jokes were fairly mild, the humour underplayed. It was the situation itself which provided most of the laughter.

The plot centred on the ever-more farcical attempts by newly-wed assistant bank manager Peter Hunter and his bungling colleague Brian Runnicles to get rid of an ever-increasing deluge of adult material which had been sent by mistake to his wife Francis. Add a visit by his snobbish mother, an anti-pornography campaign started by Peter's boss, an impending bank inspection and Peter's efforts to recover a cheque from the company sending out the blue material, and you have a hilarious recipe for disaster.

Allan McPhail excelled as Peter Hunter, with Karen Moir coping well as his wife Francis. Claire Wilson had some of the best lines as Peter's mother, Eleanor. She worked well with Peter Capaldi as bank boss Leslie Bromhead, with funny man Derek Green as Peter's hapless colleague Brian Runnicles, heading towards a nervous breakdown as he became dragged deeper and deeper into trouble.

Drew Anderson ad the audience in stitches as the mild-mannered Mr Needham, the bank inspector, subjected to indignities by Susan and Barbara, two scantily-clad girls sent round by the pornography company. They were played convincingly by Moira Goldie and Janice Gordon. Ann McTaggart completed the cast as the delivery woman.

If any criticism could be levelled, it would be that one or two members of the cast, on occasion, forgot their lines, perhaps first-night nerves.

One the whole, director Bill Green, who specialises in farce, can be happy with this performance. He was assisted by Pamela Moir, with Gerry McGladrigan as stage manager and Carol Finlay as assistant stage manager.