The Barefoot in the Park poster greeting audience-members in the ADC gives no more away about the play than its rather enigmatic title. But Neil Simon’s play, a light-hearted and amusing comedy about newly-weds struggling to settle into their NYC apartment (which is definitely not worth the $125 rent they are paying) is a pleasant surprise.

Barefoot in the Park, which opened on Broadway in 1963, was later made into a successful film. For those familiar with it this is a great chance to see the comedy in a different setting, or to spend a nostalgic evening in 1960s New York. For me, completely new to the production (and having sadly missed the Beatles by a few decades), Barefoot in the Park provided an evening of relaxed entertainment.

The relationship between Corie Bratter, impulsive, reckless wife-of-six-days, and her mother, Mrs. Ethel Banks, who has not slept without a board for years, provided most amusement, in the recognisable format of mother-daughter disputes. The extremes of character were well-portrayed for the most part, though at times Corie’s lurched a little too far towards melodrama. However, in the spirit of the production, this had a certain charm in itself.

Paul Bratter, Corie’s neat, ‘stuffed-shirt’ husband, pulled off a particularly impressive Yankee accent, even managing to affect it with a cold following an unfortunate night sleeping below a hole in a skylight in February.

The couple’s eccentric neighbour, Victor Velasco, is of a similar spirit to Corie. Between his inappropriate jokes, bizarre habits and odd living arrangements, he provides a great deal of the comedy. He embodies the spirit of the play with its philosophy that sometimes one must forget it is February, that the grass might be damp – and ones feet will surely get cold – and simply walk barefoot in the park. 

And so I encourage anyone feeling submerged in revision, or down after hours spent staring out of the same window, to give this play a go if they fancy trying something unexpected. Do not go looking for an epiphanic ending, a host of witty aphorisms, a tough, gritty issue, or any form of moral awakening. But if you fancy taking a detour and abandoning the books for an hour or two for some unexpected amusement, go see Barefoot in the Park.