‘Drop the Dead Donkey: The Reawakening!’ REVIEW

Last night, I had the pleasure of being invited to the regional Press night of ‘Drop the Dead Donkey: The Reawakening!’ at Woking’s New Victoria Theatre. In this review, I’ll give you all my thoughts on this UK Touring production.

Drop the Dead Donkey - The Reawakening is a current UK Touring stage production that stars the original cast of ‘Drop the Dead Donkey’. Drop the Dead Donkey was a British television sitcom in the 90s, set at a fictional news station ‘Globelink News’.

The Reawakening stage show reunites the cast of characters at a new news station ‘truth news’ but with Gus at the helm, with the help of his “algorithm” and secret financial backers.. It doesn’t seem as though everything goes quite to plan.

I was somewhat sceptical, going into this show, solely because I have never seen the TV programme - which coincidentally i’m quite interested in bingeing now! As each original cast member entered the stage they were met with a huge cheer from the audience, clearly fans of the show but for me it was fun to soak up their enjoyment and appreciation for these actors. 

One of the main reasons I was able to enjoy this show so much was because of the masterfully written book, by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkins. What this clever script does, as it permits anyone who hasn’t seen the TV show to still enjoy the performance. Although there are many references to the past, and the goings on at ‘Globelink News’, much of it is happening there in the moment - this script is also relevant and clearly updated regularly to remain funny. We were treated to jokes about the general election, conservative MPs leaving the party and even Prince Andrew - all of which led to major laughs from the audience. This was one of my favourite things about the show as it continues to be punchy and quick-witted throughout.

The cast were impeccable with lots of returning characters and familiar faces for fans of the TV show.

Jeff Rawle returns as George, he is the first character that we see and he is a great one as he enters this new news station full of technology - including a pesky, disobedient, voice activated coffee machine.

We seen Neil Pearson back in the role of Dave, claiming he is a changed man which shocks many of his co-workers. I particularly enjoyed Pearson’s performance; he gave one of the most real performances in the show!

Ingrid Lacey is Helen once again - another standout for me, Helen’s feisty and fun character was a joy to see onstage and Lacey does a brilliant job of bringing it to life.

Much to the dismay of the other characters, Robert Duncan returns as Gus, the man who the others claim ran ‘Globelink’ into the group, and now he is at the helm of ‘Truth News’ . Will he be more successful this time? I’ll let you decide! 

Stephen Tompkinson is returning as Damien, with his teddy bear and his blood-stained converse too! Tompkinson gives a brilliantly hilarious and heartfelt performance.

Sally Smedley is once again played by Victoria Wicks and brings a bucket-load of character with her. She had me rolling in the isles and the rest of the audience loved her too. 

Susannah Doyle returns once more as Joy - now head of HR, she is quite different to the other characters and Doyle does a great portrayal of this, you can just see how much fun she is having onstage.

A new character is added to the mix though, the shows young weather presenter Rita! Played beautifully by Kerena Jagpal, her performance was a refreshing break from the other heightened and crazy characters and fits perfectly well amongst the chaos! You can see both her excitement of being amongst these professional journalists but also her being so taken aback by everything going on.

And completing the cast is Julia Hills as Mairead who characterises brilliantly creating a mysterious character that ends up causing a few problems for ‘Truth News’ but i’ll leave that up to you to find out!

Overall, I think ‘Drop the Dead Donkey: The Reawakening’ is both a nostalgic thrill but also relevant comedy, leaving it enjoyable for all kinds of audience but particularly fans of the show. The quick-witted humour and talent of all involved makes this show the hearty piece of fun that it is.

It runs this week at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking unti lSaturday 1st June. Tickets available from: https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/drop-the-dead-donkey/new-victoria-theatre/

And for the rest of the run, find the information at: https://dropdeaddonkey.co.uk/

Robbie Davies | Robbie’s Backstage Bants

29th May 2024