WHEN you know that the farce you’re watching takes place on a wedding day, there has to be a sneaking suspicion that something will go wrong….

One Slight Hitch (another clue), Lewis Black’s witty and charming comedy, currently in performance at Ilkley Playhouse, is a delightful play with themes that will resonate with anyone who has ever planned or even just attended a wedding.

We are introduced to the action by a confident and spirited ‘PB’, the youngest of the three Coleman daughters, played with great charm Ellen O’Keefe, who is sharing the role with Jessica Chewins. She explains that it’s the wedding day of her eldest sister Courtney. As soon as Courtney (Cressida Ford) describes her husband-to-be as ‘kind and caring’ it becomes clear that these words are euphemisms for dull and stuffy. When her laid-back, hippy ex, Ryan arrives unexpectedly and immediately strips for a shower, the playhouse begins to echo with distant strains of ‘True Love’ from High Society!

Whilst the poor, confused Courtney struggles with the relative merits of safe Harper (Patrick Hebbert) or adventurous Ryan (Elliott Benn) we can only feel for the distress of her mother, Delia, seemingly the only one of the family who recognises the intense pressure of a wedding day. As preparations go awry, middle child Melanie (Becky Hill) seeks anaesthetise herself with drink and her father, Doc Coleman follows her lead.

This is a tragi-comic farce with some excellent performances. Gilly Rogers plays a mother desperate for the happiness of her children, with both great anxiety and great compassion. Doc, John Wise, gives every impression of being a loving father, happy to hold his family close to him and the two actors providing the love interest, both physically and stylistically provide the striking contrast needed to make obvious the challenge of the choice to be made. As with many great comedies, the sentimental moments are heightened because of the humour and Mervyn Button’s subtle direction has enabled these actors to define their roles to great effect.

It runs at the playhouse until June 4.

by Becky Carter