I’VE never heard anyone say they don’t like Victoria Wood’s work. There seems to be something for everyone – comedy sketches, songs and serious drama.
Her most popular song, The Ballad of Barry and Freda (Let’s Do It), contains the erotic suggestion “beat me on the bottom with a Woman’s Weekly”, summing up Wood’s quirky humour and human insight.
Dinnerladies is adapted by David Graham from the TV scripts, with comic dialogue and believable characters, and a dash of pathos enabling everyone to relate to it.
Two original TV cast members are featured in this production.
Andrew Dunn, as canteen manager Tony – posing as a womaniser, but harbouring feelings for Brenda which he’s too shy to reveal – and Shobna Gulati, as Anita, sweetnatured, but not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
The other characters are played by actors uncannily like the originals. Laura Sheppard, as Bren, does a great Victoria Wood impression, and Stella Ross has Anne Reid, as depressed Jean, whose husband has run off with a dental hygienist, off to a tee.
I suppose some might say that the actors lose artistic integrity by sticking so closely to the original characterisation, but that’s entertainment, and it works beautifully.
You can’t fail to get a giggle out of this production; I lost my customary reviewer’s reserve and laughed out loud. It’s got romance, disappointment, bereavement and that stoic British humour – it’s just like life.
■ Until Saturday. Tickets 01325-486555
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