Yes, Prime Minister (Tour – York)

With its elaborate set, depicting the Prime Minister’s sumptuous personal office at Chequers, this fast-paced, convoluted satire focuses on political intrigue at the highest level. Writers Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn have brought their 1980s satirical TV sitcom to the stage and bang up to date, inviting us to face our demons in the form of the world recession, the oil crisis, global warming and cultural differences.

This quick paced, highly witty play is a very British drama, with undercurrents of class, education and intelligence versus personal principles, and it even ventures into the challenging areas of prostitution and paedophilia. Fans of the TV series will enjoy the convoluted declamations of Sir Humphrey (Michael Simkins), the naïve bewilderment of the PM, Jim Hacker (Graham Seed), the angst-ridden diplomacy of Bernard (Clive Hayward) and the general, ever-changing atmosphere of underhand manipulation, as we are taken on a roller-coaster ride, embracing trillion dollar deals, call girls, foreign ambassadors, the BBC, oil pipelines and spin doctors.

Quite traditional, with its single set and short, virtually continuous time span, and slightly more serious in tone than its television counterpart, this is a well-written, witty political play that provokes many rueful laughs and chuckles of recognition among the audience.