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OVER A BARREL by Stephen Bill
Venue: Watford Palace 1990
Company: In association with The Turnstyle Group
Director: Michael Attenborough

Cast
Jill Frances Barber
Ray Kenneth Hadley
Duncan Christopher Godwin
Venetia Joolia Cappleman
Jason William Oxborrow
Ian David Threlfall
Gordon Niall Buggy

  Review

The Bartletts are a really awful family. A more unsympathetic bunch you would not find outside Abigail's Party however the publicity notes describe them as normal next-door types. As views like this are subjective perhaps you should go along and see for yourself. The Bartlett family are the base for Stephen Bill's play Over A Barrel. Pivotal to the action is the bullet-headed Ian, the precocious Jill, not averse to a romantic fling with Gordon, and who can blame the two of them with so much ugliness in the world? Brother Duncan and his most improbable spouse Venetia snarl and rage at the unwilling Ian, who finally snaps under the strain and decides to chuck in the family business.  No support either from the wretched Jason, the son who chooses to spend most of his time in bed. Passing through, so to speak, is Ray, a local builder come to plug a leak.