JEEVES returns to the Devonshire Park this week – minus the tunes of his last appearance and plus a new sidekick.
While Bertie Wooster is out of town, he is on loan to the Earl of Towcaster, Bill. Bill is just as daffy as Bertie so Jeeves finds himself extracting his new master from just as many scrapes as usual.
The Earl has been moonlighting as a bookie and when a furious, unpaid, gambler comes to call at the house, Bill and Jeeves are left juggling a hunter, a voracious American with an enthusiasm for crumbling ruins and ghostly apparitions, family and a fiancee.
The cast throw themselves into the production – especially James Cawood as the hopeless Bill and Richard Pocock as the eponymous Jeeves (although some people may prefer their Jeeves a little dryer) – but the play is missing the lightness of touch that Wodehouse needs.
It flags rather, especially towards the end of the first half, and lacks the necessary flair and timing to make Wodehouse's wit sparkle.
The Eastbourne audience was rather muted and the more the cast tried to elicit laughter, the less they embraced the rhythm of the lines.
The Devonshire Park punters finally seemed to thaw a little, surprisingly, when faced with Victor Spinetti's dramatics as Captain Biggar in the second half.
Come On, Jeeves is on at the Devonshire Park Theatre until July 19, with evening performances at 7.45pm and a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm.
Tickets cost from £13.50-£19.50, call 412000.