Whipping It Up

Published Wednesday 15 November 2006 at 17:10 by Heather Neill

Steve Thompson follows Damages, his 2004 comic success about tabloid journalism, with this hilarious farcical satire set in the government Whips’ office. The jokes, tumbling in well-organised cascades, are delivered with spot-on timing by a witty, intelligent cast. Richard Wilson is the irascible Chief Whip given to scatalogical anecdotes, Robert Bathurst his ex-public school deputy with delusions of Skywalker heroics and Lee Ross the wide-boy Junior Whip. This boys’ club has two machiavellian female opponents - Helen Schlesinger’s Delia, the crafty Opposition Chief Whip and a sexy young journalist, played by Fiona Glascott.

It is Christmas 2008 and the Tories are back in office but by the tiniest margin. Every vote is close-run, hence the power wielded by the Whips who engineer backbench loyalty by any means at their disposal, including threats and promises. A rebellion is in the offing as a Bill to tax semi-permanent buildings is set to cause a headache for one MP’s scout troop.

Loyalty is one virtue these manipulators understand - but only to the party. Like Yes Minister and The Thick of It, Thompson’s play invites us to laugh at the imperfections in our democratic system. And we do - like drains.