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The Duck House Malvern Theatres ***** IT was only a matter of time before the
MPs' expenses scandal would be transformed into a satire, so who better
to pen it than two stalwarts of TV topical comedy panel shows. Colin Swash has been a
regular writer and producer for Have I
Got News For You as well as a
Private Eye
contributor, while Dan Patterson has been responsible for jokes on
Mock The Week
and Room 101
and created Whose Line Is It Anyway? Given these credentials, it explains why the play
is overflowing with political wit and acerbic one-liners that provide no
mercy to MPs of any persuasion, Rupert Murdoch and The Daily Mail. It is even so close to the bone at times that
Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson are central to many of the jokes. At the heart of this fast-moving farce is
self-centred, greedy MP Robert Houston, who is preparing to jump ship
from Gordon Brown's Labour to the Tories in May 2009 when the expenses
scandal breaks and threatens his plans, as he has been one of the worst
offenders. Comedian Ben Miller uses the charm he recently
showed in BBC series Death in Paradise to get the audience behind
the deeply-flawed minister as he grapples to keep his career. While adding to the confusion are his
well-meaning but equally misguided wife (played by Olivier Award-winning
actress Nancy Carroll), dopey son (James Musgrave) and wonderfully
vengeful crazy Russian housemaid Ludmilla (Debbie Chazen). The plot spirals into madcap escapades featuring
pandas, manure and the said duck house as they try to keep the family's
over-indulgent expenses from senior Conservative, Sir Norman, giving
Houston the once over and reporting back to "Dave". This Tory peer is brought to life excellently by
Simon Shepherd, who has one of the most memorable scenes involving a
Camembert and Angela Merkel that is as hilarious as it is disturbing. There's also a second-half role for Diane
Vickers, who some of you may remember as an X Factor
semi-finalist some years ago and has now turned her hand pretty well to
acting. This play is not only funny, clever and takes no
prisoners. It is also a long-awaited political farce that will fill a
void for those missing TV satire The Thick Of It. To 09-11-13. Alison Brinkworth
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