Drop the Dead Donkey: The Reawakening! - Tour

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

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.

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.

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!

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!)

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 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!

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!