Ian Hislop and Nick Newman’s The autobiography of a CAD, adapted from A G Macdonell’s 1938 novel, is a biting funny satire lampooning the political classes and the landed gentry. It’s played out on Ceci Calf’s emotive set of wood panelling and large portraits in gold frames that inventively turns to reveal props and set.
The storyline follows the fortunes of Edward Fox-Ingleby, a pompous, privileged buffoon, who was a horrid bully at Eton and continued his education at Oxford University, where he joins the rumbustious Bullingdon Club and manages to deftly avoid military service at the front during the First World War. He is a shameless womaniser using every contact or affair to further his quest for wealth and ambition to further his sleazy career in politics when he becomes a Conservative member of parliament.
James Mack is absolutely superb as Fox-Ingleby, capturing his bombastic style creating a truly atrocious cad and with more than a nod to Boris Johnson. He decides it’s time to write his memoirs and employs the efficient yet sceptical Miss Appleby to type his dictated autobiography on an old fashioned manual typewriter. Rhiannon Neads is a joy to watch in the role and plays all the other female parts with panache including his first wife, grandmother and the women in his multiple affairs.
Mr Collins, stoically played by Mitesh Soni, is also hired and tasked with researching and verifying the facts in the cad’s recollections, but he finds many anomalies that just don’t add up, and when he challenges Fox-Ingleby, he has a dubious answer for each story and demands that he keeps them in. Soni also multi-roles the other male characters, each one fully realised, from American entrepreneur to estate manager.
There is so much hilarity in this production with slapstick humour and puns aplenty. The shooting scene is pure comic pantomime and had the audience laughing out loud.
However Fox-Ingleby’s fortunes take a drastic downward turn as his scheming, corrupt practices emerge publicly and he does everything to protect his good name by becoming the editor of a newspaper in order that only his version of his story is told.
In the end, it’s difficult to really like the character, although we do laugh at his despicable behaviour, and the first act would benefit from some judicious cutting as the scenes' content become rather repetitive.
Paul Hart’s sharp, slick, pacy direction is impressive in this highly enjoyable production.