Drop the Dead Donkey: The Reawakening! - Tour

[Rory]

www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/may/30/newsroom-satire-drop-the-dead-donkey-to-return-in-stage-revival?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

[profquatermass]

Excellent news

[schuttep]

Loved this when it was on TV. So have booked tickets with 4 friends in Richmond in February.

[Deleted]

Was always a great TV series and the launching pad for a number of the cast. The fact that pretty much all the surviving cast are on board is good too. How the writers get around the characters now being in their late 50's to early 70's will be interesting but I think they will come up with an original and funny script.

[pws]

Saw this last night in Richmond. It was sold out and is coming back at the end of the tour.
It was great to see the actors and the characters again. Each got an absolutely tremendous reception.
The play is, um, not great, but there are some very funny bits.
I've always liked Julia Hills but felt her part was a bit pointless.
And it was great that the teddy bear got well deserved applause.

[vdcni]

Saw it last night, the play isn't amazing but as mentioned it's very funny at points and the audience were very appreciative with all the original cast getting entrance applause and some very strong positive reactions to the better jokes. The more topical stuff went down particularly well. Sally as their unwitting Katie Hopkins also a highpoint.

The play is structurally problematic though. The satire of diversity and wokeism feels clunky and mostly gets dropped by the second act. More time spent with the characters would have been nice, Joy in particular is underused. Yes she's aggressive but back in the day she felt an integral part of the gang, here she's much more one note. Don't know why we needed two scenes with Sally's agent when one would have done the job and yes though it's nice to see fellow 90s comedy royalty Julia Hills her character didn't feel essential.

[alicechallice]

I hope Julia Hills is reading this to see how loved she is. I was very excited to see her as the Countess in All's Well at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol a few years back.

I'm currently rewatching 2point4 children on iplayer coincidentally.

[jacklondon]

I saw this in Richmond and really loved it. I was a big fan of the original TV series, so maybe I was always likely to be well disposed to it. However, the friend I was with had never seen the show and thought it stood pretty well without that background knowledge. Running time was 2 hours 10 minutes (with interval).

To me it felt like an extended episode of the TV series with that familiar mix of topical jokes and a little dive into character back stories (especially lovely to hear what their characters had been up to since the demise of GlobeLink News). The premise of the show was really clever too, neatly explaining how they ended up together again. Thought it worked well.

You always worry that a revival won't live up to what came before but with the original writers and surviving cast I guess this had more chance than most. I thought it did the original series proud.

Nice touch to remember David Swift and Hadyn Gwynne on the big screen at the curtain call too.

[fiyero]

I saw this in Chichester yesterday and had a great time. It did feel a bit like it had been set up to be an extended reboot episode or tv-film but did make good use of the single set. It was great seeing the characters again but some of the plots didn’t seem too joined up. The audience didn’t care though! They all had a great time too!

[Jan]

Feb 3, 2024 15:34:13 GMT alicechallice said:

I hope Julia Hills is reading this to see how loved she is. I was very excited to see her as the Countess in All's Well at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol a few years back.

I saw her in that play too, but in Trevor Nunn's definitive 1982 RSC production that was so good it transferred to Broadway. In the London run she played Diana taking over from Cheryl Campbell who'd played it in Stratford. 

[mkb]

I remember the tv series being somewhat tired and unfunny by the end of its sixth and final season in 1998. It's hard to believe it started life 34 years ago. How to make you feel old!

With the same writers (Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin), my expectations for the stage version were not great, but, in fact, they have honed a rather nicely-judged show. It melds the topical satire of the original with a gentle nostalgia trip for those old enough to remember the characters, and wraps it in a narrative that is not so contrived -- in the days of GB News and Talk Tv -- as to be too silly.

It starts with three clips from the original series featuring editor George and reporter Damian, which serve as a useful memory jogger for what Jeff Rawle and Stephen Tomlinson, respectively, used to look like, before jumping forward 30 years with the assembled players arriving one by one. (That, unfortunately, triggered a round of applause from the audience at each entrance, which momentarily killed momemtum and annoyed the heck out of me. The production is not set up to engineer the clapping, and I know it's done out of affection, but please, this is not the USA!)

Comedy only works with a gifted cast, and the fact that many of the players now have vast stage experience is clear. Their expertise with timing and reactions is faultless. As well as the groan-worthy, up-to-the-minute, political gags, there are some genuinely hilarious moments, including one sight-gag and twice-uttered follow-up line that caused me to nearly spill my glass of wine that had been resting gently by my belly.

Nods to departed original cast members, and a curtain call for the brilliant cast member playing Mr Dimbles, add to the general feel-good tone. I went in expecting little, but came out with a warm glow. You can't say better than that really, can you?

Four stars.

Act 1: 19:30-20:27
Act 2: 20:48-21:39
(An unusually prompt start!)

[Deleted]

Saw this tonight and having enjoyed the original series hugely it was a very funny and enjoyable show. The jokes were as cutting as always and broached subjects which more sensitive types may not like. Every original cast member got a round of applause when their character appeared. I didn't partake in this as I felt it was unnecessary so saved my applause for the end of both parts.

I got a side stalls front row seat for £36 which I thought was very good value. The upper circle wasn't open but stalls and circle were pretty full and everyone seemed to enjoy the show. I didn't see many people under the half century in the audience but it clearly had a lot of fans in the older age group.

One thing I did notice was all the actors were wearing head mics. All have done numerous plays before so it's not like they haven't been on the stage before or it was a live version of a show in concert halls or arenas. Not a criticism just an observation.

Also Ingrid Lacey now really reminds me of an early Ab Fab era June Whitfield with her hair shorter and straighter and now she is well into her 60's.

[mkb]

All three levels were open Tuesday. The greater first-night ATG discount probably generated extra sales.

I didn't spot any head mics. I assumed they were using ambient front-of-stage mics to more subtly amplify the sound. Was that not the case then?

[Deleted]

Apr 17, 2024 23:33:49 GMT mkb said:

All three levels were open Tuesday. The greater first-night ATG discount probably generated extra sales.

I didn't spot any head mics. I assumed they were using ambient front-of-stage mics to more subtly amplify the sound. Was that not the case then?

 I noticed one first and it was a cast member who I hasdn't recalled doing theatre for many years so thought maybe it was just her. But everyone had them - Robert Duncan had to adjust his slightly at one point.

[fiyero]

I noticed the mics and assumed it was a decision for the show. Maybe older audience so more needing the amplification headsets? I know the show I saw started late due to sound issues!

[lichtie]

Saw this in Leeds at the Grand last weekend (sadly only about half full). Thought it captured the spirit of the early years of the show quite well, so enjoyed it a lot (as did everyone else who was actually there it seemed to me).

[carriesparkle]

Really enjoyed this today. Without giving anything away (although the plot isn't complex) I loved that every single person in the audience was rooting so hard for Dave, despite everything, as always. God bless Neil Pearson.

Robert Duncan was sensational. Agree that Mairead as a character was superfluous, and Joy was underwritten and underused. And I felt bad that Ingrid Lacey didn't get any entrance applause!

[Deleted]

Apr 20, 2024 16:24:57 GMT carriesparkle said:

Really enjoyed this today. Without giving anything away (although the plot isn't complex) I loved that every single person in the audience was rooting so hard for Dave, despite everything, as always. God bless Neil Pearson.

Robert Duncan was sensational. Agree that Mairead as a character was superfluous, and Joy was underwritten and underused. And I felt bad that Ingrid Lacey didn't get any entrance applause!

Ingrid's character Helen didn't come in until series 3 and she is perhaps a lower profile name compared to some of the other cast and I cannot remember seeing her name in many things in the last few years. Victoria Wicks may have been lower profile too in last few years but back in the Sally character she was instantly recognisable. But no applause for Ingrid is a shock.

Joy in the original series often get the last minute cutting comments as the character had a clipboard in hand so could literally read them off them if there was a big news story on day of recording. Without this her stage character did lack a bit I agree.