​Review: ‘Good Life’ brings good laughs!

Most people suffering from a midlife crisis consider buying a sports car or taking up a new hobby – but the outcomes of this newly-middle aged man’s decision to escape the ratrace and become entirely self-sufficient is equal parts hilarious and relatable in the current climate.
The cast of 'The Good Life'.The cast of 'The Good Life'.
The cast of 'The Good Life'.

‘The Good Life’ by Louth Playgoers is opening at the Riverhead Theatre on Tuesday (March 6) and it’s a triumph of a married couple’s attempts to mix things up in their lives, with a brilliant and talented cast bringing the much-loved characters to life.

On the morning of his 40th birthday, Tom Good is having an existential crisis as he faces yet another day in a job he hates, while his long-suffering wife Barbara tries desperately to cheer her despondent husband up.

Finally, Tom has had enough and announces that he is giving up his job, and their entire way of life, to embrace a more sustainable way of living, by growing their own fruit and vegetables, keeping goats, chickens, and pigs in the garden, and even generating their own energy from manure.

It's a “good life” for them – but not for snobby Margo and Jerry Leadbetter next door, who are desperately trying to maintain the Surbiton status quo, and Margo’s hoity toity disdain at the couple’s efforts is hilarious.

What follows is a brilliantly funny adaptation of the much-loved Jeremy Sams' stage play, based on the popular sitcom by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey.

Audiences will love the struggles the couple endure trying to navigate their new normal while keeping on their neighbours’s good side, from trying desperately to save the life of the runt of their litter of piglets, to Margo’s fruitless auditions for her drama group’s production of the Sound of Music – to feeling the effects of a poppy-seed cake with some illicit addition to the ingredients...

A special shout-out much go to Geraldine the goat, who is the focal point of the Goods’s despair and the cast are clearly having a ball, with excellent comedic timing from everyone.

Tickets for The Good Life are available by visiting website at https://louthriverheadtheatre.com/whats-on or calling the Box Office on 01507 600350.

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