Nice easy watching for a summer’s evening is how Katy Lewis would describe Neil Simon’s London Suite.

Neil Simon’s comedy is a set of four light-hearted playlets set in the same London hotel room.

You get a bit of thriller and a bit of drama but all are laced with comedy and some cracking one-liners for which the author is renowned.

You also get four excellent performers playing all the main parts. It all sounds like the perfect recipe for a great night out. It is certainly a good fun and happy evening - but as a piece, left me wanting a bit more meat.

It opens with writer Brian pointing a gun at his financial manager, followed by a daughter setting up her widowed mother on a date with an allergy-ridden Scot.

The second half sees a big Hollywood TV star being visited by her dying, gay ex-husband before a short but straight farce involving everybody’s back giving out - but no vicars!

Attractive
The idea of showing how many different situations can develop in one hotel room was really attractive but I felt that I wanted the pieces to be linked by more than just location. There was always the promise of an exploration of some interesting human situations, but somehow they were never fully carried out.

I suppose the whole point was that each situation could be seen in isolation because hotel rooms are really just stopping points that reflect a snapshot of life, without any need to know what happens next. But after a couple of the playlets I did want to know - and after the others, I didn’t care!

Featured
But this is just a criticism of the plays really, because I wouldn't want to take anything away from the four performers who take on the lead roles. They were extremely accomplished and put their all into the words they were given.

The featured actors are of course John Challis and Sue Holderness, by virtue of their incredibly popular cult TV partnership as Boycie and Marlene in Only Fools and Horses.

And even though both have years of theatre experience between them, such is the power of television, that many will always associate them with the national institutions that they created.

But in these four plays they show their complete versatility both in look and in character in a variety of roles and prove that, to the uninitiated, they are not one-trick ponies. You can really understand why this production would be such an attraction for them.

Funny
As the embezzling accountant, John Challis’s attempts to get out of a sticky situation are very funny and probably closest to Boycie - although nothing like him, as you can also see real weakness and fear in the character.

Then as a famous TV star’s dying bisexual husband there is sophistication and poignancy as he struggles to retain his dignity, followed by his strong performance in the straight farce as the elderly doctor.

Sue Holderness showed an equally wide range over the course of the evening. As the widowed mother, her description of the night out with the bachelor from hell was wonderful and as the English actress who makes it big in the US (she even dressed and looked like Joan Collins), she portrayed the generous woman behind the public facade.

And it was this playlet in particular that made me want at least another act to carry the story on.

Farce
In the farce, she is the Scottish hotel manager, who deals with her guests problems as only a professional hotelier can - with matter of fact impracticality.

Sara Crowe gives very strong support in her roles but the biggest surprise for me was Mark Curry. As an ex-Blue Peter presenter I thought that I would expect him to whip out his sticky back plastic at every opportunity. In short - I had no idea he could actually act!

But in this he has actually proved himself to be a wonderful comic actor. As both the penniless author and the man crippled by back pain, his timing is impeccable and the audience loved him.

The one thing that I found annoying though, was the wide range of not very convincing American accents - I don’t think any of the performers who had to do one, were able to pull it off!

But that, and the lack of substance aside, this is an enjoyable and inoffensive night out with a chance to have a few laughs and see some excellent actors in action.

Grantham gets hooked!