Review of The Good Life at the West Walls theatre, Carlisle

The play was adapted from the TV show by Jeremy Sams in 2021. As with the show, it follows idealistic couple Tom and Barbara Good as they ditch the capitalist rat race and become 'self-sufficient' - to the horror of their prim neighbours Jerry and Margo Leadbetter.

With an evocative set, well-worked scenes and some excellent technical effects, director Verity Ramsden's production has a professional air. During one set piece, an animatronic goat bathed in red light brings an anarchic and destructive end to a cannabis-fuelled dinner party. It's quite brilliantly done.

There's a lot to enjoy in all the performances. As Tom Good, Mitch Ralley is channelling Richard Briers' manic energy; as Barbara, Michelle Wright is like a ray of sunlight. Around the central couple, Jason Munn makes a brilliant Jerry Leadbetter, a character as smooth as a cup of Gold Blend. Supporting cast Jo Murray, John Metcalfe, Dale Howcroft and Kate McSevich look to be having great fun inhabiting multiple characters.

But as the towering comic creation that is Margo Leadbetter, Sarah Coyle is just superb. It's in the pitch of the voice and the precision of the movement. Many of the play's best comedic moments spring from the friction between the outrageous Margo and the other characters of the Good Life universe.

Mitch Ralley and Michelle Wright as Tom and Barbara Good in the Green Room production of Jeremy Sams' adaptation of The Good Life. (Image: The Green Room)

The set - split down the middle with the Goods' homely kitchen on one side and the Leadbetters' more grandiose sitting room on the other - is nicely used. The 1970s is brought to life on stage with a keen attention to detail, from the yellow tones to the flared trousers, the Marie Rose sauce to the Black Forest gateau.

Like with all good stories set in the boring suburbs, sex is always simmering just under the surface. Everyone fancies everyone a bit. The idea of a fruit bowl full of car keys is even mentioned at one point. The script is ripe with double entendres. But I sometimes wondered if Sams' dialogue could dial up the bawdiness even more, instead of occasionally backing away from it.

The setting had to be the 70s. It's a 70s story. It would be tricky to bring it into the modern day. For one thing, the idea of being mortgage-free at age 40 would require an enormous suspension of disbelief - as would the concept of giving up a well paid career designing cute toys.

Mitch Ralley, Michelle Wright, Jason Munn and Sarah Coyle, the Good Life cast. (Image: The Green Room)

In an era of unstable employment and unsettlingly rapid technological change, it's tempting to long for a time where things felt a little slower. Tom and Barbara opt for an unplugged life of - what would seem in 2024 - ascetic simplicity. You can imagine a similarly committed couple these days would spend half their time recording their 'journey' on Insta. Maybe turning their goat into a TikTok star.

So as a way to spend an evening, there's nothing nicer than to switch off your phone and journey back into a better, gentler decade, enjoying the skill of this team of on-stage (and off-stage) storytellers, and raising a glass to the West Walls, which really is a cracking little theatre.

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* The Good Life is directed by Verity Ramsden and presented in arrangement with Nick Hern Books Ltd. Its run at the Green Room Theatre on West Walls in Carlisle will be from October 7 until October 12 with shows at 7.30pm, plus a 2.30pm show on October 12. Tickets available from carlislegreenroom.uk or from Carlisle Tourist Information.