Yes Prime Minister Reviews

Henry from Hong Kong

HUGE EXPECTATION...

It's quite brilliant and funny, but I would say....I miss the TV series bit more indeed. In TV series, there's one key issue with witty dynamics between civil servants and politicians within a 25 mins show, while the drama, they tried to touch on a number of current political issues. Is it a bit too much? Also...the dynamics between civil servants and politican seems to me that it's all too up-front, but not subtle enough as the script was written. I may not understand drama enough, but the relationship between Sir Humphrey and Jim , portraited inby Nigel Hawthone and Paul Eddington,were interdependent, disliking, but accepting each other in a very very subtle manner. Their facial expression and way or interaction per se is joyfully good fun. Sometimes it's even more interesting than their viewpoints on specific political issues. In drama, they seems to focus much more on current political issues. Very wise, frank and updated as the writers has put it, I expect a bit of depthness too

Claire from London, England

INTERESTING, CLEVER, FUNNY, BUT NOT STUNNING.

I remember my Dad laughing at this show when I was a kid so (having enjoyed Enron the other week) I thought it might be fun to go and see the updated version. The funny bits were mostly funny, I didn't feel the urge to weep with laughter like my fellow reviewer above but some parts were amazingly well done - the rants, the double-speak and the Fawlty-esque breakdowns as well as the one-liners. These things are mainly in the delivery, and the actors were brilliantly cast. On the downside, one moral issue was re-hashed a dozen times and I'm not sure what it added after the first - serious point made, we get it, now move on already because you billed this as a comedy! The audience as a whole were getting uncomfortable after a while. The people sitting around me (in the cheap seats!) were mainly in their late twenties and thirties and, like me, probably there to laugh at the digs at politicians, financial crisis etc and not because they remembered the original programme.

Alastair from Guildford

GOOD, BUT NOT GREAT

Another failed stage production from a very popular TV series. It's topical and it has it's funny moments, but it goes on too long and a heavily perspiring Jim Hacker who spends the entire time shouting because he's had a bad day left me longing for some of the subtlety I remember from the TV. It's good, but over-priced frankly and it needs a tweak from a better production team.

Stephen from London

TOO SLAPSTICK TO BE ANYWHERE NEAR AS WITTY AS THE ORIGINAL

The script is generally excellent, with some very witty new ideas, although it drags in the second half as the plot stumbles through the predicament with the Kumranistani foreign minister. Unfortunately, what really lets the play down is the casting and direction, which is disappointing given the talent on stage. Henry Goodman does not display the gravitas to pull off the role of Sir Humphrey. When he reverted to the famous Sir Humphrey monologues, especially any latin, it felt like an impression on dead ringers rather than a convincing performance. Jonathan Slinger has turned Bernard from the fresh faced junior into a pastiche of David Walliam's gay assistant to the Prime Minister in Little Britain. David Haig plays the suitably hapless minister, but at times he is too frantic and the subtle power play with Sir Humphrey is completely lost. Comic timing requires pauses, this show just races along. A disappointing slapstick pastiche of the original.

Peter Coupe from England

DREADFUL, MISJUDGED, SEEDY IN PARTS

I will be returning my tickets today and asking for a refund. This play is a degrading farce, based on cheap 'jokes' about prostitution, people trafficking, torture, murder, child sex (how very right for our times) and torture. Let's not forget xenophobia and jokes about deporting foreign sex workers after they have been used to get a deal on behalf of the government. Since when did the 'Yes, Prime Minister' that we all know and love from the TV become this seedy ragbag of trash? People left part way through, I'm not surprised. I am surprised that it is still running. Sorry, can't find a single good thing to say about it and would not recommend it to anyone. Never heard Jim Hacker say 'Fuck Off' before - not quite sure why we need to hear him say it now? Don't waste your time - or considerable admission fee.

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