Great Britain...

Last Saturday night Stuart and I went to see Great Britain at the National's Lyttelton Theatre on London's glitzy South Bank. It's a zeitgeist comedy written by Richard Bean about tabloid phone-hacking. Not convinced? Well, it's very funny.

Starring Billie Piper, amongst many other luminaries, it is rude, crude and right on the money. Like a especially good episode of Drop The Dead Donkey it tears into the tabloid newspaper industry, the police and the political establishment. No one comes off well. Not least us as newspaper's readers.

Directed by Nicholas Hytner and designed by Tim Hatley it is a delight of a show - only held back from a launch earlier in the year by a certain court case. Ahem.

If you want to laugh for 2h 45 mins pretty much non-stop this is the play for you! Almost every gag is a winner.

Highly recommended.

One Man, Two Guvnors...

Last night Stu and I went to see One Man, Two Guvnors at the Lyttleton Theatre on London's glitzy National Theatre on the South Bank. In Richard Bean’s English version of Goldoni’s classic Italian comedy, sex, food and money are high on the agenda. James Corden returns to the National for the first time since The History Boys to play Francis.

He was actually quite funny too. As was the play itself. Interspersed with songs by a fifties four-piece it was a broad farce set in 1963 Brighton.

On opening, One Man, Two Guvnors received widespread critical acclaim. The Guardian gave it 5 stars, saying that it was ‘A triumph of visual and verbal comedy. One of the funniest productions in the National's history.' The Daily Telegraph described it as 'the feelgood hit of the Summer', The Independent as a 'massive hit' and London's Evening Standard as 'a surefire hit'. Blogging site Everything Theatre described it as 'one of the most side-splittingly hilarious productions ever to be staged in London'.