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Thursday October 17, 2013
Perfect Nonsense
We went to see this at Richmond theatre attracted by the strong cast in the shape of Stephen Mangan and Matthew MacFadyen. It took me a while (about 10 minutes) to warm to them but they were so charming it was inevitable and made for a more than excellent jolly evening. We were pretty familiar with the plot - mainly from the TV series with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, and I have also read the books - involving Madeline Bassett, Gussie Fink-Nottle, Roderick Spode, cow creamers, nuptuals, Black Shorts, and policemen. However, the theatrical device is that Bertie is recounting the story as a stage play with the redoubtable Jeeves extemporising scenery, costumes, and characters as required - aided and abetted by Aunt Dahlia's butler Seppings, played by Mark Hadfield. As described by Charles Spencer in the Telegraph, (more eloquently than I because he is a professional writer....), Stephen Mangan provides just the right mixture of bonhomie, idiocy and panic, and the whole production perfectly evokes the dotty, sunlit innocence of Wodehouse's work
You can see it now in the West End at the Duke of York theatre.
Posted by Christina at 11:42 AM. Category: Art and Culture
