Habeas Corpus: Menier Chocolate Factory

Could somebody please correct the title of this thread?

Alex Jennings would be ideal for the doctor.

Great news. This is one of the few Bennett's I haven't seen and I remember thinking it was very funny when I read it years back. As a bonus I imagine there will be Sunday performances thus filling up the most difficult day to sort out.

Did this play in the final year at drama school. Funny as anything - for cast and audience alike!

I’m not familiar with the cast, apart from Ria Jones.

As this is an Alan Bennett play I've never seen, I'm very much looking forward to see it on its final Sunday matinee outing.

And the positive comments here are making me salivate even more!

Sounds awful - like a Carry On film.

"Homage" gives them a free pass to make jokes about false breasts without the audience feeling guilty I suppose - Bennett's name gives it a veneer of intellectual respectability. I find Joe Orton plays to be similarly unfunny. I think there were two periods in British theatre when naming a character Canon Throbbing amused people and one was around the 1970s and the other was around the 1770s. Whether it's appropriate for the 2020s I don't know.  

...and I was at university with Dick Standing.

Alec Guinness played Wicksteed in the original production, so it's safe to say it's a cut above Carry On. Jim Broadbent was the lead in the brilliant Sam Mendes production at the Donmar in the early 90s. I'd put it in my top five funniest plays seen in 30+ years of theatre-going.

First time back at the MCF tonight and what a fun night it was watching this. With a run time of 2hrs and 15 mins (each Act was approx 1 hr) this really was a slick performance that kept us all throughly entertained. The play might be nearly 50 years old but Alan Bennett’s humour and dry wit still shines as brightly as ever on stage and delivered with plenty of energy by the wonderful cast of 11. Certainly the humour from the writing landed with tonight’s audience keeping us laughing the entire time.

The play is performed with minimal staging with only a coffin on stage the entire time which really didn’t make any sense until the final scene and for some inexplicable reason a stuffed toy dog at the back of the set (there is no reason why it’s there. A pointless presence in my opinion). Though to be honest the absence of any real set didn’t really detract from my enjoyment. Being sat front row tonight provided ample of legroom as the stage isn’t that deep. Though I forgot how cramped that padded bench seating was in the auditorium so you can get up close and personal with the people sitting next to you.

It’s my first time seeing this play and certainly at times it did feel a bit like a Carry On film with people being chased around the stage and the dropping of trousers both myself and the rest of tonight’s audience just lapped it up. Certainly that kind of humour can feel dated but the way it’s presented on stage I thought worked overall. Ria Jones as Mrs Swabb I’m convinced was channelling Acorn Antiques legend Mrs Overall in her performance which does include some singing from her (along with the rest of the cast). Matthew Cottle played a wonderful randy vicar. It was nice to see Dan Starkey in the flesh as I’m more use to seeing him in Dr Who underneath all the Sontaran prosthetics. Overall I thought the entire cast worked well together and the play went straight through without any issues and appeared in great shape tonight.

Thankfully as the restaurant area upstairs is currently closed it provides additional space to mingle pre-show and during the interval as it was pretty cramped as always in the downstairs bar area. Also I’m happy to report that the creative team were making notes during the show without disturbing nearby audience members.

So is this worth a watch? Definitely.