Norwich Theatre Royal – until Saturday 11th May 2024
Reviewed by Boo Wakefield
4****
Whether for fans of the classic 1990s satirical comedy or for those new to it, this is a real treat – a fun, edgy, witty and upbeat treat.
26 years after the original Drop The Dead Donkey TV series finished, the story continues in The Reawakening. Written by the same writers, Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkins, and with nearly all the classy original cast returning to play their parts again but on stage, it is nevertheless fresh and full of vitality. I was worried it might be a bit boiler-plate but it certainly wasn’t – it was just plain fun with the quality of the acting permeating every part of it.
Gus (Robert Duncan) leads the newsroom team at the launch of a new news station Truth News, with George (Jeff Rawle) as his editor along with Helen (Ingrid Lacey), Damien (Stephen Tompkinson), Sally Smedley (Victoria Wicks), Joy (Susannah Doyle) and Dave (Neil Pearson). They are all from the original series and are joined by two new characters, Julia Hills (Mairead) and Kerena Jagpal (Rita). As the team scramble to get the show launched on time, with some wonderfully comic spats between Sally and Damien over who should be the main broadcaster, and George swooning over his new girlfriend, it has all the tempo of the newsroom where it’s set – bags of energy carries the story on with the quality of the actors just kicking it on further – fantastic.
The set is cleverly designed by Peter McKintosh with clear walls dividing the news desk from the rest of the office allowing the cast to use the stage actively for different scenes. David Swift and Haydn Gwynne who played Henry and Alex in the original series have sadly passed away but they are remembered by the cast during the curtain call when their images are projected onto the large screen over the news desk, which is touching and poignant. This same screen is also used effectively during scene changes with tweets scrolling down it showing how disastrously the launch is going – but that’s not just for the comedy because, as with the original TV show, the undercurrent is always about the essentiality of journalistic ethics and integrity underpinning the Fourth Estate even in the face of ratings-driven pressure and media manipulation. Indeed, this play is so current the script changes nightly to reflect changes in the day’s news headlines; it’s genius and this pacy, finger-on-the pulse feel is hugely refreshing.