There is quite a fun dynamic on display here from Hayley Mills ("Jenny") and her new husband "Arthur" (Hywel Bennett) as they have to make their way in a new married world fraught with difficulties. They have little money, so live with his well meaning but slightly domineering parents "Ezra" (John Mills) and "Lucy" (Marjorie Rhodes) and an accident with their bed puts paid to any hanky-panky! Their honeymoon is aborted after it transpires the travel agent has absconded with their money and gradually they discover that their lives are the subject of the wagging tongues all around town. The comedy is gently effective here. This could be a depiction of many new marriages where even the most loving of couples are having to get used to the stresses and strains of a new way of living. Mills is on great form; Avril Angers and John Comer support well as her parents "Liz" and "Leslie" and this adaptation leaves much of the original humour from Bill Naughton's play intact for us to enjoy. What makes this enduring is that it is quite touching. A score from Paul McCartney is also notable though maybe more because he wrote it (not because it's especially memorable). You can share in the laughs, but you also sympathise with this couple as they try sort themselves out and stay sane! Those of us of a certain age might well find this resonates a bit, and still relate to it too - even if, on occasion, it makes you cringe a bit!
Review of The Family Way
