Content Note: Discussion of sexual harassment in relation to the play’s subject-matter

Boeing Boeing at the Cambridge Arts Theatre breathes new life into Marc Camoletti’s witty and farcical 1962 comedy, bringing a fresh amusement and genuine laughs which impress.Whilst there may be many viewers, like myself, who assumed 1960s’ French plays were the exclusive reserve of eccentric Great Aunts and tote-bag touting English undergraduates, I was more than happy to be proved wrong with this energetic production.

It is carried by strong performances amongst a talented cast who delivered every hyperbolic declaration and wry one-liner with genuine dramatic gusto. In particular, John Dorney’s Bernard, a sleazy and self-assured womaniser imported directly from Casa Amor, grounded the play both in plot and performance, as we see his dastardly cheating ways dramatically spiralling away from his control with great calamity and hilarity inbound.

“The piece [...] remains engaging and relentlessly funny from start to finish”

The play is contained within a single day and single location, in which we gleefully witness Bernard’s three air hostess fiancés, an American, an Italian and a German, slowly begin to unravel his deception with spiralling comic velocity. They are supported by Bernard’s hapless friend and accomplice Robert (played by a deliciously shrill Paul Sandys), alongside the long-suffering maid Bertha (Jo Castleton), who increasingly struggles to keep Bernard’s adventurous romantic arrangements under wraps. The tirelessly animated acting of all the cast members brings the script’s dry wit to life, and extrapolates genuine laughs across the auditorium from the play’s devastatingly simple premise.

The piece is rightfully played as an over-the-top romp and remains engaging and relentlessly funny from start to finish. However, the outrageously exaggerated accents can become a little tiring and even confusing, especially by our American hostess Gloria (Isabel Della-Port), whose grating accent seems to oscillate erratically between Boston, Dallas and a pantomime dame.

“Some audience members may feel dizzy from the endless extrapolation of the plot’s limited premise”

Of course, Director Cabot Michael Cabot has himself admitted that the gender “attitudes” of the play “clearly [belong] to a different time”; undeniably the source materials’ understanding of polyamorous relationships, the treatment of its’ female characters and lighthearted references to sexual harassment undoubtedly, for some audience members, date the piece uncomfortably. However, despite being a faithful adaption of the script, this production makes an active effort to curtail the misogyny of its source material by leaning into a farcical presentation of heterosexuality, in which the masculinities of Bernard and Robert are routinely mocked, presenting a kind of pantomime of romantic complication which softens and upends the play’s more problematic origins.

Those looking for sympathetic or nuanced characterisation will find little reward in Camoletti’s source material, although this production is very successful in animating these caricatures to their fullest extent that their superficiality is hardly a comic limit. In particular, Jessica Dennis as Gretchen, our delightfully hysterical German air hostess, is a real gem on stage who effortlessly combines fast-paced laughs with full-bodied dramatic zeal, sighing and swooning abound. Equally, it would be remiss not to mention the elegant and stylish set and costume design by Bek Palmer, which perfectly balances sophistication and high camp to bring the very essence of 60s’ Parisian decadence to the stage.

This claustrophobic farce may not be for everyone, and indeed some audience members may feel dizzy from the endless extrapolation of the plot’s limited premise, with much of the plot unfolding with blunt inevitability, whilst robbing audiences of a more satisfying ending. Similarly, the show is adamantly unpolitical, which may leave us more than a little underwhelmed considering historical setting in hindsight, providing little more socio-political commentary than a pastiche of the respective national characters of our air hostesses. Further, the faithfulness to the original script leaves a limited ability to update its content for a modern audience. Thus while well-acted, the grumbling old maid Bertha remains little more than a tired sexist trope, reciting one-liners that would be more fitting in Only Fools and Horses.

These factors may go some way as to explaining why myself and my friend viewing the play on its opening night brought down the average age of the audience by about 45 years – a shame, really, as younger audiences do not need to be familiar with the context to find plenty to enjoy in this animated and jovial production. While somewhat limited by the vacuity and stereotypes of this source material, this production does a brilliant job of teasing the best out of Camoletti’s script: those looking for a cheery and charming evening in the theatre this week should surely look no further.

Boeing Boeing is playing at the Cambridge Arts Theatre at 7.30pm from the 12th to 16th of July, and 2.30pm on the 14th and 16th of July.