The sign says Plumstanton Library but this could be The Brittas Empire\u2019s Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre, The Office\u2019s Wernham Hogg or Torquay fleapit Fawlty Towers. Such is the instant familiarity of a failing workplace whose staff have a new manager and an inspector to contend with at once. It\u2019s not only the books that are well worn in Matthew Howell and Jack Michael Stacey\u2019s play. Acting head librarian Harry Wordsworth has even bought his own \u201cbest boss\u201d mug like David Brent.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless it\u2019s a frequently funny hour, with well-tuned performances. Harry (Matthew Howell) finds himself in charge when Peter, who has run the library for more than 25 years, pops his clogs in the Agatha Christie section. This death in the aisle is both a tragedy and mystery which the remaining staff stumble through, beset by dodgy electrics, dwindling visitors and a seemingly inevitable closure.<\/p>\n
Oafish Harry\u2019s co-workers include Elaine (Billie Hamer), a stickler for the rules who can\u2019t hear the word \u201cfine\u201d without reaching for her stamping device, and a man known chiefly as Work Experience (Jack Michael Stacey). Of course, the new boss (Jo Hartland) has been dispatched from London and is suspiciously viewed as a snob. Alliances are formed, plans are hatched and rivalry fills the air. As does a whiff of Mischief Theatre<\/a> \u2013 the writers met when performing in The Play That Goes Wrong<\/a> and an am-dram company is referenced here with the acronym Prat. No prizes for guessing the typo that befalls \u201cpublic library\u201d but there\u2019s a lovely twist I didn\u2019t predict.<\/p>\n Amy Milburn\u2019s production heightens the calamities sufficiently so a simple act like fetching the inspector (James Watterson) a glass of water becomes a feat of physical comedy. It unfolds in an awfully British landscape of biscuits and sausage rolls, Mrs Miggins and Lord Lucan. There are some light political swipes, with an accidental new leader installed by misfiring tactical voting, yet you might expect more bite about the country\u2019s rampant library cuts and closures. Breezily enjoyable \u2013 even if you prefer your comedy to be less easily classified.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sign says Plumstanton Library but this could be The Brittas Empire\u2019s Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[146,85,46,411],"class_list":["post-595195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}