Yes Prime Minister

Review by: Paul Towers, 04 October 2016

Yes, Prime Minister by Antony Jay & Jonathan Lynn

Leicester Drama Society production

Little Theatre 3 – 8 October 2016

“theatre heaven.”

Oh joy! This is a seriously funny piece of political satire that, even though it was written in 2011, still resonates today and continues to puncture the pomposity and obsequiousness of parliament and the civil service with very few updates. In fact some references have accidentally become hilariously appropriate.

Right from the moment the metaphorical curtain rises the snappy one liners tumble forth and the laughs never stop.

The story is all about a weekend at Chequers where the PM is entertaining the Kumranistan ambassador with a view to signing a major oil deal which will save the EU from bankruptcy. As the weekend progresses PM Jim Hacker ties himself up in every tighter knots, some of his own making but many of Sir Humphrey’s.

As Hacker gets progressively more frustrated and bogged down Sir Humphrey steps in to try and diffuse the situation with his impenetrable business-speak obscurations designed to confuse but not clarify.

Yet another beautiful set design by Alec Davis of an old country study, oak panelled with bookcases and French windows allows for the obligatory farcical entrances and exits while a large screen on the back wall is used to good effect for news footage and the credits.

A very strong cast is led by David Lovell as Jim Hacker, Charles Moss as Sir Humphrey and Joff Brown as Bernard Wooley. Moss, in particular, garnered several personal, well deserved rounds of applause for getting his tongue round several of Sir Humphrey’s ambiguous, incomprehensible and positively obfuscated soliloquies.

For those of us that remember the 80’s when this was on TV this is theatre heaven; a sharp script with very familiar characters perfectly preformed to a very appreciative audience. What more can you ask for an evening’s theatre?

Yes, Prime Minister is on at Little Theatre until Saturday 8 October

Full details at www.thelittletheatre.net/

First published on Western Gazette