Salisbury Playhouse – until 20th April 2019
Reviewed by Leanne Caplis
4****
Wiltshire Creative together with Oldham Coliseum Theatre and York Theatre Royal bring to the stage Moira Buffini’s comedy Handbagged.
Six actors, one very basic stage and few props tell the story of the eleven years Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister and reveals what the weekly conversations with the Queen might have looked like.
The use of a younger Thatcher (Eve Matheson) and an older one ( Sarah Crowden) together with the young Queen (Caroline Harker) and the older (Susan Penhaligon) was very clever. Through shared dialogue they told the story of then whilst adding their opinions of now.
Whilst the play brought many laughs from the audience I seemed to be lost for most of it. I can only put this down to an age thing. The average age of the audience revealed that the majority remembered the reign of the Iron Lady and therefore could relate to the storyline. Also listening to them during the interval and after the show brought about comments such as “absolutely brilliant”, “extremely well done” and “hilariously funny”.
Susan Penhaligon has the Queen down to a T. Her voice and facial expressions were very realistic. The start of the second half, which incidentally was my favourite part, saw the full audience on their feet for Her Majesty which brought much amusement to all.
Whilst all parts were played well the star of the show for me was Jahvel Hall who played his many parts well and had the audience in fits of laughter on more than one occasion. That said I also thought Andy Secombe is worthy of a mention as his comedy timing is spot on.
Whilst the show wasn’t my normal type of comedy I would recommend it to those over 50 years old. Going off the reaction of the audience and the almost sellout seating this will be a real hit.