I'm Sorry I Bought a Ticket
I'm Sorry Prime Minister (Apollo Theatre) - Guest Review by Dr Terror
It's been an interesting week. I watched the marvellous Welsh National Theatre production of Our Town bookended by a thriller that was boring and a comedy I didn't find funny. In the former case, I think a significant proportion of the audience agreed with me, but here I thought I might just be completely on my own, particularly considering that whoever was sitting behind me was laughing so hard that I genuinely thought they might die doing it, like that guy watching The Goodies did that time.
To be honest, I've never liked Yes Minister. Like Jeeves and Wooster, the servant is cleverer than the master. That's it. That's the joke. Now, surely you can only find that funny if such a situation seems out of kilter to you in some way. I've always thought it par for the course.
At least the original leads had a certain charm. Paul Eddington's Jim Hacker was pompous and vain, but clearly out of his depth so much that it scared him. Nigel Hawthorne's Sir Humphrey was an old rogue, but polished and charming with it. All the while, an essentially well-meaning politician was bamboozled by an unhelpful and self-serving bureaucrat. Is THAT the main thing wrong with Westminster politics? No wonder it became Maggie's favourite comedy.
Ah yes, that was the other problem: one of the writers was Antony Jay, a man whose beliefs made Nigel Farage seem like Keir Hardie. Still, at least he was dead now. That should improve things, right?.
Meanwhile, the new leads, Clive Francis as Sir Humph and Griff Rhys Jones as Hacker, are perfectly serviceable. Hell, Rhys Jones used to be a cutting-edge satirist, dangerous even. Remember Not the Nine O'Clock News? Constable Savage, Cut Off Their Goolies, I Am Convinced That This is a Major Contribution to Road Safety, The Two Ninnies? That stuff was belly-laugh material..
And here? It looks as though Sir Humphrey is having a stroke but it's his mobile, set to vibrate, going off in his pocket.
He opines 'Politicians can be great leaders or great thinkers.' ; 'And is Jim Hacker a great leader or a great thinker?' ; 'No.'
Pages and pages of this. It wasn't just the misanthropy. It was the smugness of that misanthropy. At the interval, I gathered my belongings and ran like the wind.
A few years ago, I had seen The Play That Goes Wrong. It was vile, but there was one joke in it that made me laugh (it was the one about James and the Giant Peach. I won't spoil it for you). Here there was no such saving grace.