"Left me sobbing with laughter" - The Times
"...the most breathtaking comedy sensation for seasons - has many passages when the audience howls with laughter: sometimes with several different kinds of laughter in rapid succession. Above all, it is the most valuable sustained political satire for more than a decade" - The Financial Times
" sizzling political farce...a satirical treat to savour" - The Evening Standard
"Hurray for a political comedy that is actually funny" - The Daily Mail
BEN GASTON, director, writes -
Alistair Beaton has been described as Britain's leading satirist and it is easy to see why. He was one of the writing team on Not The Nine O'Clock News and Spitting Image and a collaborator on Drop the Dead Donkey. The New Labour government, stars of their own every day pantomime, have proved easy pickings for his sharp pen with recent televisual treats including A Very Social Secretary about David Blunkett's affair with Kimberley Quinn and this year's The Trial of Tony Blair in which Robert Lindsay excellently portrayed our Prime Minister struggling to cope having handed over power to Gordon Brown. (Brilliant stuff - I thoroughly recommend you see it).
Beaton's skill in the theatre world (he recently translated Gogol's The Government Inspector, a play that was met with critical acclaim) and expertise in the art of satire are the perfect marriage and he has written a string of plays about our world leaders and modern political situations. The first, and most intentionally light-hearted of these was Feelgood, which had a very successful run at the Garrick in 2001 starring Henry Goodman and Nigel Planer.
I can't adequately articulate how excited I am to have the privilege of directing this gem at the GWT. The very nature of this fast-paced play means that I can't tell you too much without giving it all away. Forgive me if I only seem to give you the bare bones here - I wouldn't want to spoil the treat. We are in the Prime Minister's hotel suite on the eve of his party conference appearance. Eddie his obsessive Press Secretary and Paul, a speechwriter, are trying to finalise his speech. The arrival of George, lord and chum of the PM, and with him details of a scandal that could bring down the government, test Eddie's skills of manipulation to the limit. Told you I couldn't say too much. Trust me. You will laugh lots. I promise.
So who are the players in this farcical feast? I am proud to say that the cast includes Dave Webster as the all powerful Eddie (moving from foul-mouthed to charming in the blink of an eye), Keith King as George, Damon Unwin as Paul, John Wilson as Simon (a far from funny sitcom writer - think My Family and you'll be close), Helen Carter as Asha the PM's PA, Vivien Goodwin as Liz and the Prime Minister as himself.
I don't think any government or premier in recent times has been as ridiculed and lampooned in the media as blatantly as the current lot. While the country is either deeply divided over its attitude towards them, or has been depressed into deep apathy, I thank them. Without them we wouldn't have wonderful source material for comedy such as this. Join us in April as we say farewell to Blair with this hilarious look back on the early years of New Labour when Alastair Campbell ran the country, Blair nodded and smiled in all the right places and we all became victims of the fine art of spin. The scary thing is, it is still happening today....
(A word in your ear. This play does contain some (funny and well-timed) swearing. You have been warned. However the people who do the swearing come from respectable positions in society. So that's all right then).
BILL BRAY comments from the Public Gallery -
It is often said that theatre should reflect the things that are happening in the everyday world. It is surprising that more hasn't been written about the lies and spin that have emerged in the last ten years. One of the problems has been that events move too quickly to make the situations relevant other than as past parliamentary history. Television has been able to exploit the delicious and ridiculous (some would say disgraceful) ironies of government far more quickly with satirists like Rory Bremner.
However, now that we have a PM who won't budge, it has made plays written some years ago still relevant.
Alistair Beaton's Feelgood was written in 2001 as a satire on the use of journalists, PR men, spin doctors and other unelected manipulators of truth in the service of retaining political power. Some of the principal real life players may have gone back to journalism but the game is still played. Scandals, lies, ill-considered judgements and arrogant policies happen with sickening frequency and can we do anything but laugh?
And laugh you will at the antics of political speech writers and spin doctors on the night before the Big Speech at the Party Conference in Alistair Beaton's farcical satire. Or you could weep.
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