Like slipping back on a pair of favourite shoes, revisiting Victoria Wood’s dinnerladies, which ran successfully for 16 episodes on BBC1 from 1998 to 2000, is a comfortable, enjoyable, if unchallenging experience.
A sparse Saturday matinee house suggests though that the current show may struggle to attract all-new audiences. It is, after all, a decade since the factory, canteen-based sitcom regularly notched up very healthy audience figures and further cemented Wood’s writing credentials. Since that era though, comedy has got a whole lot quicker and slicker, and the rather pedestrian pace of the first few acts is obvious in parts, as is a slight clunkiness in the delivery of some tag lines. That, I have no doubt, will all be ironed out as the cast works its way around UK venues, and in original TV cast members, Andrew Dunn (Tony) and Sue Devaney (Jane), the production has the advantage of two, totally confident performers. Featuring scripts adapted by David Graham from the originals, the set does feel as lifeless as a library at times, and more should surely be made to instil some catering sound effect chaos into the comedy mix - even just a few rattling saucepans and machines letting off steam.
Those that liked the TV version won’t be disappointed though, as the performances of Laura Sheppard as Bren (played originally by Wood) and Tamsin Heatley playing her eccentric mother, are both spot-on. Heatley as Petula has one of the key roles, and her appearances raise the comedy bar every time she steps on stage. The sight of her gas explosion-cremated coiffure is almost worth the journey to Wimbledon alone. My fear is that comedy tastes, and indeed, most audiences have moved on from these kind of genteel, human interest scenarios. I hope not - it’s still worth catching.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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