SITTING curled up on the sofa watching Dinnerladies on the TV back in 1998 with Victoria Wood as Bren and Julie Walters as her frenetic mother, Petula, was warm and comfortingly funny.
With Wood’s acerbic writing and a strong ensemble cast, Dinnerladies was an instant smash with audiences and critics alike. It went out on a high after 16 episodes, winning Best TV Comedy at the 2000 British Comedy Awards.
Standing next to a large group of middle-aged women in the plush bar of Sunderland Empire during the interval, the conversation went something like this.
“It’s not what I expected. Is it what you expected?”
“No, it’s a bit like watching a cartoon.”
“Yes, I agree, all the funny bits off the telly have been stuck together.”
“Shall we skip the second half then?”
Frantic nodding followed and the group sneaked out of the theatre like naughty schoolgirls.
Although it credits Wood, the stage show is adapted from the TV scripts by David Graham.
He’s crammed the one-liners so close together, they trip one another up and you can see straight through the plot.
Acting wise, the cast did a brilliant job with the material they had. Laura Sheppard’s Bren was nearly as funny as Wood; Andrew Dunn’s Tony a treat to watch and Sue Devaney’s Petula even crazier than Julie Walters.
In short: not very funny, too long, not suitable for the stage and should have been left on the television.
• Until Saturday. Box office 0844-871-3022 SunderlandEmpire.org.uk
Helen Brown
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