★★★★

“The chemistry between them is comedy-duo gold dust”

‘Unhappiness is the new normal’ quips Ronen midway through Peter Quilter’s bittersweet comedy. ‘Then why am I the one taking the pills?’ replies Allegra, the title character. A simple retort, almost childlike in its innocence, but it encapsulates the deeper questions that are lurking just below the surface of this uplifting and fiercely funny new play. ‘Allegra’ – a melodic name – derives from the Italian musical term, ‘Allegro’, which means joyful, happy and lively. Dame Maureen Lipman certainly lives up to the description with a tour-de-force performance that brings to life eccentricity and vulnerability in all their various shades.

Allegra lives alone in an unnamed English village, filling the empty spaces with her joie-de-vivre and with her endless and irresistible urge to burst into song. Not just at home, but in the streets, at the bakery, the local service station, in the cafes and even the care home at the end of the lane. She can’t always tell, however, whether she is singing out loud or whether it is just in her head. More often than not, it is the former, which apparently causes problems. A challenge that her brother Ronen has to address. Enlisting the help of Czech carer Anna, he vainly tries to keep the long arm of the law at bay, which inevitably comes knocking in the shape of local bobby, Officer Rogers.

The action takes place on Justin Williams’ interior set; a fittingly grand and multi-coloured mash-up of styles, oddities and accessories reflecting the quirkiness of its inhabitant. Lipman has the lion’s share of Quilter’s sharp dialogue and one-liners, which trip off her tongue as though straight from her own fertile mind. John Middleton plays her restrained but neurotic brother Ronen, delicately balancing the desire to kerb his sister’s behaviour without diminishing her happiness. The chemistry between them is comedy-duo gold dust. Polar opposites, they don’t realise how much they have in common. Through Anna’s eyes, Ronen is just as odd. Elizabeth Bower gives a nuanced performance as Anna, injecting playfulness and empathy into the character’s ironic, quasi-European overbearance. Into the mix stumbles Officer Rogers; a figure of bumbling authority that Bailey Patrick sends up to the hilt.

Stephen Mear’s assured direction accentuates the comedic talents of the four cast members. The hour long first act sits very comfortably in the realm of television sitcom: we could very easily see the play developing into an ongoing series on the small screen. Act two wanders a little off-script, treading into darker territory with touches of Kafkaesque surrealism. Mixed with hints of farce it sits a bit unsteadily with the crux of the piece. Some transitions into song are a bit clumsy, but the ensemble routines, once we have crossed over into make-believe, are a joy to watch. The more realistic moments, however, fare better, when Lipman naturally drifts into a Capella singing as a natural extension of her joyous personality.

There are allegorical references to the subject of mental health, examining society’s response to – and treatment – of it. But even in the blacker moments we still laugh out loud. Happiness (or rather the expression of it) is viewed as a problem – an addiction even. “Some people do cocaine – I do cabaret. The funny thing is that it’s the cabaret that gets up people’s noses”. Both writer and director never lose sight of the comedy and, suffice to say, we are soon crashing head on into an uplifting and happy ending. And enjoying every moment of the ride, of which Maureen Lipman is the driving force. We may not particularly go along with her choice of song, but we certainly leave the theatre with a song in our hearts. Rightly so, the show is already heading to the West End. Let’s hope that there are some TV executives in the audience.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE

Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★★

“There is an awful lot to absorb, but the company delivers the punches with refreshing jabs of comedy”

When Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ was published at the end of the 1960s, it quickly caught the imagination of the young generation and turned Vonnegut into an overnight sensation. An odd book, to say the least, it is both an antiwar novel and a science fiction. As a rite of passage, I remember giving it a go in my late teens, with limited success. Before seeing the stage show I brushed up on the synopsis and, on my advice, my partner read the Wikipedia summary. “How on earth are they going to stage this?” she asked just before curtain-up, succinctly echoing my own thoughts. Ninety-five minutes later, during an enthusiastic ovation, we have our answer. Eric Simonson’s adaptation is a remarkably creative piece of stage craft as it welds the fragmented narrative into a shape that pretty much resembles clarity.

The story centres on Billy Pilgrim (Patrick McAndrew), who has become ‘unstuck in time’. A character who is free from the illusion that one moment follows on from another. The past, present and future co-exist allowing him to flit from one to the other with ease. Thankfully the audience is given captions as to the ‘where and when’ for each scene – we would be lost without them. The story follows three decades (but not necessarily in the right order) of Billy’s life beginning with his time as a chaplain’s assistant during World War II during which he is captured and becomes a Prisoner of War. He survives the Allied firebombing of Dresden, and is later discharged with PTSD, spends time in a veterans’ hospital, marries, has kids, becomes a successful optometrist. But then he is abducted by aliens and taken to their planet – Tralfamadore – where he is kept as a zoo exhibit (whilst also impregnating a fellow abductee – a pornographic film star). Returning to earth he is reunited with his wife, survives a plane crash but is later assassinated while giving a speech about his time travels.

“All this happened… more or less” explains the narrator, enhancing the fantastical nature of the hero’s odyssey. In fact, there are three narrators, who also take on a ridiculous number of multiple roles that support Billy’s meandering fatalism. McAndrew wonderfully portrays the fish-out-of-water character with a mix of bemusement, nihilism, humour and philosophical insight that eventually cuts quite deep. Alex Crook, Ethan Reid and Sofia Engstrand play everyone else; impossibly switching between roles, locations and time. Often the indicators are tiny and the nuances subtle, but we never lose sight of who they are.

It is a truly collaborative enterprise. A juggling act with director Douglas Baker managing to keep all the balls in the air throughout. And alongside the fabulous four cast members, Baker’s video design is a fifth star of the show, the intricacy of which is rarely seen off the West End. Using both the back wall and a gossamer gauze downstage, the worlds the characters inhabit are brought to magical life. The timing is crucial, too, as the performers interact with the projections which are simultaneously enchanting and informative. It is relatively low-tech but, as they say, limitations breed ingenuity. An ethos that shapes the whole show. There is a shabby chic quality – a ramshackle atmosphere that is also extremely sleek. Like well-rehearsed chaos. We are reminded at times of The Goon Show with its mix of anarchic surrealism and rapid-fire nonsense. But beneath the humour the tragedy unfolds, until it is impossible to ignore the all-important messages laid out in a quite moving finale.

But it seems that humanity too often ignores them. Vonnegut’s story is a frightening loop. The atrocities that have gone before us are constantly being replayed. This theatrical revival is timely. There is an awful lot to absorb, but the company delivers the punches with refreshing jabs of comedy. We need to be on our toes, but with neither room nor time for distraction, this is an intensely captivating show.

Tag Archives: Jonathan Evans

ALLEGRA

★★★★

UK Tour

ALLEGRA

Richmond Theatre

★★★★

“The chemistry between them is comedy-duo gold dust”

ALLEGRA

Richmond Theatre then UK Tour continues

Reviewed on 8th June 2026

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Marc Brenner

ALLEGRA

ALLEGRA

ALLEGRA

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE

★★★★

Southwark Playhouse Borough

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE

Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★★

“There is an awful lot to absorb, but the company delivers the punches with refreshing jabs of comedy”