They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  If that's the case, then Hotelier Rosie Lake flatters more than most.  She's the lead character in "Find The Lady" - a farcical thriller by Michael Pertwee. 

At first she's Mrs Slocombe from "Are You Being Served?" - dressed in a flamboyant and frilly pink nightie complete with curlers and blasting out jokes about her pussy (I later found out the part was written with Mollie Sugden in mind).  Next she's Dame Edna Everage, with an enormous white wig and equally huge horn-rimmed glasses.  But then again she's Mrs Malaprop, always mixing up her words and names.  But of course this play is set in the lounge of an aspiring hotel…so how could she not be Sybil Fawlty, complete with a truly unique dress sense, a wagging tongue and an insecurity about what the neighbours and her business competitors would make of it all.

That's a lot of characters all rolled into one, and it takes a special actress to pull it off.  She had all the best lines, and Rosie delivered them like a true eccentric landlady, she had all the biggest laughs and pretty much stole the show.  Of course there were other characters, but in reality this play needs a single matriarch-come-battleaxe to pull it off.  So there was a lot on Peggy Tilly's shoulders.  But she took on the role with relish.  It was a gloriously over-the-top and politically incorrect performance. She never got flustered with her lines, she was never upstaged but most importantly she never shirked responsibility for carrying the entire show.

The action centres on Rosie's belief that one her female guests has been murdered.  She attempts in vain to find the body (the title obviously has nothing to with the fairground game where you lose all your money).  There are an array of other characters all of whom are potential suspects: cantankerous Mrs Pratt (Anne Tull) and her less-than-desirable daughter Desiree (Sue Gowar), caddish Squadron Leader Tim Cantel (John Miles), the mysterious Doctor Ali (Phil Ellis) and Mark Anderson (Tadhg Bowe in a role that is only explained halfway through the second Act).

Perhaps the only thing missing was the yuppie.  After all, the sinister goings-on at the Delamere Private Hotel in South Kensington were set in 1980.  But there was no sign of a brick sized mobile phone (not that it would have fitted under Rosie's hairpiece) nor did the dodgy fashions or cheesy music of the time find their way on stage.  But these are minor criticisms and the fact I noticed them as absent probably says more for my bad taste than I'd normally care to mention!

Like all good farces there are mistaken identities, lines that characters live to regret having said, requited and unrequited love, phantom pregnancies, stunted getaways, a fast moving finger of suspicion and an undercover policeman who it turns out has been watching events the whole time anyway.  The central tenet concerns the location of the body.  Is it in the trunk that conveniently sat the stage for almost the entire play?  Is it in the attic?  The cellar?  As it turns out the only thing in the cellar besides crates of alcohol is a dead cat prompting a wholly predictable "My poor pussy!" from Rosie.

So often it the cast who receive all the plaudits.  But a special mention must go to director, Elaine Devlin. This was a difficult script to work with.  It needed a leading lady who would be on stage for almost the entire duration.  It was full of comic timing (my favourite being the recurring joke about Rosie walking in on the Squadron Leader just as he's seducing another girl)

It was good to see some new faces on the stage.  I've been going along to the biannual offerings of the PETS for more than five years.  Hopefully there'll be good things in the future from Phil Ellis and Tadhg Bowe.  I can already pretty much see them in the PETS next production due in late October - the stage version of 'Allo 'Allo!  Look no further for café owner Rene or the English policeman who thinks he can speak French.