LAUGHTER filled Malborough Village Hall on Friday night as KATS performed ‘Tons of Money’ for a packed audience.

A comedy by Will Evans and Arthur Valentine, and revised by Alan Ayckbourne, Tons of Money follows the forever-in-debt Aubrey Allington and his wife Louise as they try and get their hands on an inheritance payout.

Aubrey – played by Rich Turley – gets a visit from a solicitor – Caroline Sheard – to tell him that he has been left a small fortune. The problem is, Aubrey and Louise – Jules McColl – are in debt to everyone from the milkman to the tailor, so they could pay off their creditors with their inheritance, but they would be left with nothing.

So the couple hatch a plan to make sure they write off their debts and receive the inheritance, all Aubrey has to do is, well, die. Just a little bit.

Astrid Kemble’s portrayal of Aubrey’s aunt Benita Mullett - ‘No need to shout, I’m not deaf!’ - was the source of much of the laughter in the hall and Barry Cadman’s comic timing as Giles the gardener was perfect.

As the play progresses, George Maitland, Aubrey’s cousin and the person standing between Aubrey and the inheritance money he so desperately wants, is played by three different actors as each tries to convince the solicitor that they are the real George.

One George was played by, now keep up: Aubrey’s butler’s brother Henery – Malcolm Curtis – an incorrigible womaniser, and the ‘secret signals’ they try to communicate with lead to endless entertainment, especially when Sprules, the long-suffering butler – Mike Davies – tries to communicate with the ‘wrong’ fake George and is faced with quizzical looks and confused responses.

Jenny Wood played Jean Everard, Louise’s wide-eyed old friend, and while being desperately funny, she was lucky enough to get to kiss not one, not two, but three of the characters she is definitely sure are her long-lost husband, while Apple Taylor’s portrayal of Simpson the parlourmaid was comic genius.

Finally, the real George turns up, played by Jacob Seldon – his last KATS production before leaving for university – and the whole ordeal gets wrapped up, with Aubrey in much the same position as when he started.

In this laugh-a-minute production, Kingsbridge Amateur Theatrical Society’s usually exceptional high standards were once again on show, from the flawless props and sets – courtesy of Scenic Artist Lin Rowe, David Stone, Derek Jarvis and the team – down to the slick and well-rehearsed production.

Directed by Malcolm MacIntosh and assisted by Bethan Tucker, Tons of Money has proved, once again, that you don’t need to travel far to get slick, well-rehearsed and throughly entertaining theatrical productions, KATS brings them right to your doorstep.

Congratulations to the whole team on another great success, my stomach muscles had recovered from the laughter by Sunday!