Ambassadors Theatre, London – until 20 May 2023
Reviewed by Celia Armand Smith
4****
In the summer of 2022, the nation was gripped by the trial of Vardy vs Rooney, or as it became known, the Wagatha Christie Trial. It all started in 2019, when Coleen Rooney accused Rebekah Vardy of leaking private instagram posts to a tabloid newspaper. Vardy would go on to sue Rooney in a multi million pound spectacle that would inspire columns, podcasts, books, and TV dramatisations. However, Liv Hennessy was one of the first out of the starting gates with this verbatim stage adaptation of what went down inside the English High Court last year. The main dialogue is taken directly from court transcripts, and boy was there content to be had.
Like all good sporting fixtures and courtroom dramas, this is a game of two halves.
Each half is approximately 45 mins long (plus stoppage time), and there are football pundits and supporting characters brilliantly played by Nathan McMullen and Halema Hussain, commentating on the action and helping explain the legalese. When one of the sides wins an argument, hilarious football themed tableaus are formed on stage to the sound of a stadium of cheers, motionless whilst a detail is explained.
The first half puts Lucy May Barker as Vardy on the stand being interrogated by glossy barrister David Sherborne (Tom Turner). Lucy May Barker is fantastic in this role, all straight face and petulant innocence on the stand, but changing like the flick of switch to hilariously reenact incriminating (or are they?) WhatsApp messages and Insta posts. Then, the second half brings Laura Dos Santos’ much quieter and more sympathetic Rooney to the centre of proceedings, as Rooney is questioned by the tenacious Hugh Tomlinson QC (Jonnie Broadbent). We hear about evidence lost at sea, flooded £2 million basements, arguing with FA reps, and the 2016 Euros. If we weren’t told it was word for word, I think we would all have a hard time believing that this was real.
Although there is an appearance of the courtroom, Lisa Spirling’s production is all set against a background of football. Polly Sullivan’s set has the high court benches sat on a green pitch with white lines, and fake grass bordering the edges of the stage. Sullivan’s costuming is genius too, with near exact replicas of the outfits worn in court right down to the air boot and one Gucci mule Coleen Rooney wore due to her broken foot.
The high court trial of Vardy vs Rooney was gripping and a much needed tonic to the state of things in 2022, and Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial is equally gripping and a much needed tonic to the state of things in 2023. There are thoughts to be had on the concept of privacy and celebrity, and what those things mean, but truthfully, the acting is tremendous, there are a lot of out loud laughs, and the whole production is terrifically entertaining. If you need a break from reality but also want a dose of “reality”, I can highly recommend Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial.