Tony Laumberg’s seventh play ‘My Fair Lawyer’ keeps up the playwright’s tradition of writing light, entertaining theatre.

The new scenario features two of Laumberg’s regular characters, the forever at odds, Henry and Margaret Crowley, and the playwright has added two fresh new characters, Cheryl, the fresh, young law graduate from Cessnock, and materialistic Indian psychiatrist, Dr Rahmish Punjab. It’s the comedy of complications with Henry and Margaret’s marriage being on the rocks, they both end up going to see the same psychiatrist, and a young woman from Cessnock arrives wanting a job in Henry’s legal firm, also claiming to be Henry’s illegitimate daughter. The play leant very much in style towards farce.

Richard Cotter directed the production in his usual fast paced, comical style. Mark McCann ‘s portrayal of Henry Crowley was spot on; frazzled, ill-tempered, hypertensive, and always at odds with his wife, Margaret, played by Tricia Youlden. Youlden portrays Margaret as manic, flirtatious, contrary, and a lush. It’s a portrayal that she has down pat, and she plays it with rich comedy. The couple are forever at odds, and yet they somehow still remain together.

The supporting cast featured two Ensemble Studio graduates, Clare Pickering as Cheryl and Gil Balfas as Dr Rahmish J Punjab. They were both strong performances. Clare Pickering’s portrayed Cheryl as a cheeky, spunky young country woman, out to get as much out of her presumed father Henry as she can. The character is a bit stereotypical but Pickering’s performance was very sparky. Gil Balfas’s performance as flamboyant, impish, tricky, money hungry Indian psychiatrist, Dr Punjab, was very confident. The good Doctor was always cracking jokes, and always sidelining it by stating that it was only professional humour.

‘My Fair Lawyer’ ran straight through for about eighty minutes, and built up the pace well as things came to a head, Henry and Margaret’s marital conflict…Cheryl finding out whether Henry was actually her father…and the audience finding out whether Dr Punjab actually is a psychiatrist.