Saw the stage play of Yes Prime Minister last night. For those of you that aren't familiar with the series, it follows a cabinet minister who later becomes prime minister in his dealings with his civil servants and advisors. There is a constant power struggle between the prime minister and the head of the civil service; Sir Humphrey Appelby and is very, very, very funny.
For those that are fans of the TV series, the stage show is very different. Although the dialogue is still expertly scripted by Anthony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, the original actors are not part of the play. This caused me a fair bit of apprehension and almost put me off going to see it.
I'm glad I did go in the end. The actors did a magnificent job resurrecting Sir Humphrey, Bernard and Jim and the new plot allowed them to make the parts their own.
The whole story was set in Chequers which I liked since again it avoided comparison with the TV series. I also enjoyed the fact that the BBC were the brunt of many jokes; I get the impression these had been stored up since the original series but like most things about the show, it remains contemporary.
Sir Humphrey had some truly magnificent polysylabic sililoquies and there were some cheeky nods to previous stories. My only two criticisms are that the plot was occasionally a little slow - never dragging but at times it seemed to have lost direction a bit. My other criticism is that, at some points, Bernard ceased to be the straight man. He never ascends to the true lunacy that some of the other characters achieve but at times things just seemed a bit silly.
Overall, I am compelled to say, after due consideration and consultation with other parties present at the previous performance pertaining to the merits, or otherwise, of the aforementioned show that; although not a total and faithful replication of the eponymous televisual broadcast, the play could in fact, if one so chooses, be described as being excellent.
Oh and the girl playing the bbc producer was STUNNING!
JR
No comments:
Post a Comment