PRACTICALLY IMPERFECT
OSO Arts Centre
★★
“doesn’t dig deep enough and as a result is unaffecting, lacking light and shade”
“I’m practically perfect in every way” sings Julie Andrews in the 1964 Disney version of “Mary Poppins”. It becomes her signature phrase in the film, describing her impeccable nature. It isn’t the self-aggrandising boast it appears to be. The character goes on to sing that “if I had a fault, it would never dare to show…” which suggests that the ‘perfection’ is only skin deep. Writer Clare Norburn has stripped away any pretence with the title of her new play, “Practically Imperfect”, which features Mary Poppins interacting with her creator, PL Travers. Mary Poppins herself is far from the spit-spot, uncanny nanny portrayed on the silver screen, but it is her author’s imperfections and complexities that are under the spotlight.
It is a fascinating premise. PL Travers (Lottie Walker) has returned to her Chelsea home from Boston, jet lagged and struggling with the fifth book of her Mary Poppins series. She is in a state of disillusionment and still bristling from the Disney treatment of her creation. Enter Mary Poppins (Joanna Brown) with the intent to put her to rights. She appears to have a rather hefty chip on her shoulder though, and there is a hint that we could be in revenge thriller territory, but the benevolence of each character prevails in what is a very light-hearted, thinly veiled biography of Travers. “I have no backstory” bemoans Poppins as she starts to turn the tables and write a book about her author. Cue a potted biography of PL Travers.
It all takes place in her study. The audience are invited in, too – both actors frequently breaking away from the dialogue to acknowledge us. Directed by Nicholas Renton, they appear to be a touch unsure about how much interaction is welcome, however, and we remain uncomfortably on the doorstep, equally unsure how far the fourth wall has come down. The same timidity has been applied to deconstructing the characters of Poppins and Travers; the latter particularly lacking depth. We get many facts but very little sense of the extraordinary woman. Brown fares better as a kind of whistleblower, uncovering the kind of life you wouldn’t expect from the writer of ‘Mary Poppins’. Her accent is spot on (practically perfect…) and it is refreshing to see a touch of menace under the porcelain exterior. Brown is a chameleon, frequently slipping into other roles – Walt Disney, mystic George Gurdjieff, diarist and longstanding friend Jessie Orage and Travers’ quasi-Irish father – among others.
PL Travers famously despised Disney’s treatment of her stories, and disliked the songs (the film, ‘Saving Mr. Banks’, covers that ground and to Norburn’s credit she steers away from repeating the narrative here). “Practically Imperfect” is underscored with the Edwardian style music hall that Travers would have preferred. With just Brown’s accordion accompaniment, the songs are thin and inconsequential, giving a sense of neither period nor mood.
There is so much that this play wants to explore: the difficult childhood that Travers obscured by changing her name, her intriguing adult life, complex romances and thorny relationship with her adoptive son. It doesn’t dig deep enough and as a result is unaffecting, lacking light and shade. There is a fair bit of fun to be gained from watching Travers spar with her own creation and there are some neat references to the novels. As the ‘West Wind’ blows, we know that it is time for Mary Poppins to depart, but the resolve is blurred and we are uncertain of the affect the experience has had on PL Travers. We are equally unsure of the impact that the play has had on us.
PRACTICALLY IMPERFECT
OSO Arts Centre
Reviewed on 10th February 2026
by Jonathan Evans
Photography by Robert Piwko
