Set in the mid-1990s, parts of this play felt like it was set further back than that. John Coombes (Harry Gostelow) came across as such an old-school traditionalist who thinks men know everything and therefore, by default, women know nothing, that it was as though he needed reminding what gender Margaret Thatcher and HM Queen Elizabeth II were. In the end, however, he seems to have nobody on his side, with long-suffering wife Carol (Rachel Fielding) finally letting years of repressed frustration. It was a fine moment of dramatic tension in an otherwise rather tepid evening. “We enjoy sex,” John almost protests, after Carol insists there is no longer any joy in their bedroom activity, and there hadn’t been for some time. Their sex life, she says, has become “like cleaning our teeth, and washing the car on Sundays”. Still, she stays with him – contrast that with Nora in A Doll’s House, a play that premiered in 1879. She leaves her husband, leaving her keys and wedding ring behind.
That they have argued at all is, of course, always someone else’s fault in John’s eyes. That ‘someone else’ is Arthur Bullhead (Steven Pinder), who has invited the Coombes over to ‘The Bunty’, his boat moored on the Thames, somewhere in Oxfordshire, ostensibly for a weekend get-together but really in an attempt to lay a business proposal before John. Arthur, a businessman, needs the approval of the local council to do whatever it is he is planning to do (a redevelopment project of some kind, which was just as riveting to listen to as you might think).
As for John, I’ve seen members of the clergy express more progressive views than him – in church. His outrage at First World Problems is mildly amusing for a while, but quickly becomes quite wearisome, and it is difficult not to side with Carol when she talks about her own experiences as a teenager. Why indeed should youth be wasted on the young? Arthur likes to be ‘in charge’, inverted commas mine, until such time as something goes wrong, and then, a bit like John, it’s the wife who gets the blame. In this case, Melanie Gutteridge’s Mary is allegedly to blame for not having sorted out sufficient gas supplies to cook a Sunday roast: the underlying misogyny that runs through the narrative isn’t offensive. But it is boring, which in my view is worse.
Completing the set of on-stage characters is Shirley (Francesca Barrett), Arthur and Mary’s teenage daughter, and her classmate Wendy (Hannah Brown), daughter to John and Carol. The younger characters had what I can only describe as more fun than the grown-ups, and I would venture to suggest that Shirley and Wendy’s night out would have made for a more exciting play than one about parochial politics and a kiss that leads to, um, nothing.
The second half is somewhat better than the first, and while it was pleasing to see a play that doesn’t neatly tie up various narrative ends too tightly by curtain call, there was a bit too much in the way of uncertainty. I thought of the schoolboy who yelled, “Is that it?” at the end of what he thought was an unsatisfactory panto. There are two substantial mitigating factors here. One is the set, which pays so much attention to detail the boat is surrounded by actual water on stage. The other is the dinner theatre format that the venue prides itself on, and with good reason – every meal comes with a pre-theatre dining experience with friendly table service. As for the show proper, well, a hardworking cast does their best with what they are given.
Review by Chris Omaweng
In a wild ride down the Thames, the tranquil river waters turn into a storm in a teacup as Robin Hawdon’s brilliant comedy unfolds!
Picture this. Brash, self-made property tycoon Arthur Bullhead is on a mission to seal the deal of his dreams. But instead of a boardroom, he chooses the quirky setting of his converted riverside barge, the Bunty, for a weekend getaway with the local planning committee chairman and his unsuspecting family.
Little do they know, Bullhead’s idea of a relaxing weekend involves more chaos than calm. With personalities clashing like bumper cars at a fairground, the stage is set for a comedy of errors. Bullhead’s shady business tactics clash with the straight-laced Coombes family’s morals faster than you can say “high tide.”
As the weekend unfolds, Bullhead’s antics leave the Coombes in knots, with his offer dangling like a carrot on a fishing line. But will they take the bait, or will they stage a mutiny on the Bunty?! With Bullhead’s skittish wife Mary and rebellious daughter Shirley adding fuel to the fire, it’s a recipe for hilarity that’ll leave you in stitches!
Cast
Francesca Barrett – Shirley Bullhead
Hannah Brown – Wendy Coombes
Rachel Fielding – Carol Coombes
Harry Gostelow – John Coombes
Melanie Gutteridge – Mary Bullhead
Steven Pinder – Arthur Bullhead
Creatives
Director – Sally Hughes
Set Designer – Jackie Hutson
Costume Designer – Natalie Titchener
Lighting Designer – Graham Weymouth
Sound Designer – Henry Horn
Casting Director – Kate Plantin CDG
DON’T ROCK THE BOAT
The Mill at Sonning, Sonning Eye, Reading RG4 6TY
10 July to 6 September 2025
