Betty! A sort of musical - REX Manchester

I've grabbed a £10 ticket for a January matinee so if I can't make it for any reason I can give it back or give it away.

The options for "keeping in touch" are by phone, by text or by mail but not by email so I declined.

"Peaked my interest." I see what you did there, david.

As an h'ors d'oeuvre, there's a revival of Beryl at Oldham Coliseum in May. If Betty is as good as that, I see no reason why it shouldn't be very good.

I wonder what her next project will be called?

Ooh! Let’s get a poll up and running! 

The Avanti NorthWest fiasco is a disgrace isn’t it? 

Having to play Avanti train roulette this morning in order to get back from London in time to see tonight’s performance I really was unsure about what to expect from this year’s REX Christmas show. There have been a number of shows examining different political figures over the years to mixed results so when Maxine Peake announced they she along with Seiriol Davies had written a show about former HoC Speaker Baroness Betty Boothroyd I was certainly intrigued enough to book as she wouldn’t of been on my list of political figures to base a show around.

Anyway, the best word I can find to describe this show is bonkers. It is set in Dewsbury where an amateur drama group decide to put on a play about Dewsbury’s own Betty B. The group 6 is led by Meredith Ankle played by Maxine who is a very forthright and opinionated group leader. The play takes a very light hearted look at Betty’s life and time as Speaker. This is not a hard hitting show by any stretch and lampoons certain politicians mercilessly, particularly in Act 2. This isn’t a James Graham political piece of theatre!

With a run time of around 2hrs and 40 mins with a 20 min interval tonight it flew by. Music is provided by a 4 piece band (keyboard, Trumpet, Bass, Drums). The song list is below. As a musical, I didn’t find any of the songs that great to listen to sadly. Done in a comedy vein but none of the songs made me think wow, that’s great and would get a second listen to. Vocally, again ok at best for me but nothing in the singing to make you think you are listening to something special. Also, vocal projection wasn’t great for me despite using mics. The sound mixing for me was off and the music overpowered the vocals at times so I missed some of the lyrics. Though hearing Maxine do sone rapping in Act 2 was an interesting experience. 

Where this show was better was in the book and acting. Some real laugh out loud moments here, particularly in Act 2 which I can only describe as a psychedelic experience with two songs “Anxious Nineties Crisis” and “Boothroydian Rhapsody” probably being the standout moments from the show. I felt the writing style and performances in the entire show were a mix of “Dinner Ladies”and “Allo, Allo”. There really isn’t that much emotional depth or tug at the heart strings moments with this show. Get rid of the songs and there is a really funny play in there. 

In terms of the staging, it was a very sparse set in Act 1 with only a few props such as chairs and big wicker baskets to suggest a community centre used as base for the drama group. The one piece of set was a large canteen table. In Act 2, the set improves with a mock up of the HoC chamber which is used to great comedic effect in Act 2 and some bits and pieces coming down from the auditorium rafters. For costumes, Seiriol Davies gets some fantastic stuff to wear, but a lot is done in jeans and. T-Shirts / normal everyday wear.

Cast wise, comedically all were good and different cast members taking in turns to play Betty at different stages in her life. Maxine plays Betty as the Speaker who is a good likeness in Act 2 when she has the Speaker robes on.

Ultimately, while a fun night out at the REX and you can switch your brain off,  I won’t be rushing back to see this one. 

Rating - 3⭐️

I so wish it would since not only does it sound as though it deserves and would be appreciated by a wider audience but as mentioned above, travelling to/from Manchester by train isn't feasible atm.  However, I don't think productions do tend to transfer from the Royal Exchange, alas and Maxine Peake and other cast members may not be free in the longer term anyway.

I’m not sure if it will transfer, it’s quite localised in its humour. I saw this yesterday at a matinee. It is totally bats, deliciously silly but still good-humoured and very funny in parts. I enjoyed it. The whole small company are very well cast. Maxine Peake is a bit like a Mrs Overall - Julie Walters - character. Probably needs a more work and a slightly bigger cast to make it plausible for the opening Dewsbury players section. It’s certainly a pleasant way to spend a few hours in the theatre. I haven’t been to the Royal Exchange for about 4 years and there have been a few changes to the layout of the booking office and cloakroom, but generally the outside area to the main auditorium really needs a re-think, it’s very crowded around the Rivals restaurant area and just seems a lot less accessible and spacious than it used to be? The lift was also broken yesterday. The show was just over 3/4 full, not bad for a World Cup football day and freezing temperatures outside. I hope the show does well. Just scraps 4* stars from me.

That’s a bit cheeky. How did they not know that until now?

Sorry.. I'm confused and I think I've messed up my reply! I will try to work out how to reply in future! I basically want to say that David has nailed it with his comments. Saw the show last night. I couldn't get Julie Walters and Victoria Wood out of my head all night. It came across as a script that Victoria wrote 30 years ago and put in a draw! The cast were very good with what they had...but! Glad I went and enjoyed it but I don't think this has a life after REX.

Thanks for this, I’m booked in for next week but was wavering based on comments so might actually go now. I have to say say that while I think taking Peake out of the cast for the latter part of the run at the last minute is a bleeding cheek for those who wanted to see her, I’m personally not that fussed because I don’t particularly like her.