An abundance of new targets to aim at
With an audience predominantly made up of fans of the 1990s’ multi-award winning Drop The Dead Donkey it was almost certain that The Reawakening, a stage version, would be very well received, writes Michael Holland.
The premise is that the old team that worked on the TV news programme would be rehired by a mystery man paying big bucks for their experience and skills – plus, for some, their willingness to cut corners and lie. And with today’s many channels and platforms that provide both those aspects without any fear, this revival had a lot of promise.
As each of the old firm individually made an entrance for their new job they were met with a warm cheer of recognition. The narrative immediately gave us a ‘previously on Dead Donkey’ catch up of their respective relationships. Some were pleased to see each other again, while others gave an, ‘Oh fu*k!’ For those that had not seen the original programme this was a necessary device to bring us all up to speed on the characters and their roles.
The plot is to discover who the secret backers are. We are well aware of GB News’ losses over its short lifetime, a channel that declares it is not news but opinion and sometimes breaks Ofcom broadcasting rules, though there is no reason to think that Drop The Dead Donkey: The Reawakening is about them.
In the early scenes we are told what the protagonists have been doing in the intervening years: reality TV, divorce, addiction, jail time, and basically living the normal life of celebrities who sell their souls.
On the way to the denouement there are some good jokes and some great fake news pieces to camera that keep people watching this car crash television but also attract the ire of serious news-watchers who troll them on Twitter; a couple of TV Gods are devastatingly brought down – the Trevor McDonald cameo is hilarious and what they did to David Attenborough even had my mouth drop open.
And so much has changed in 30 years – mobile phones, the internet – which adds a lot more scope for writers Guy Jenkin and Andy Hamilton (who was in attendance) to work with. There is an abundance of new targets to aim at and most of them get hit in this show.
What did not work so much was the expanding of what works brilliantly as a half-hour sitcom into a much longer story. In 30 minutes the gags that don’t work are forgotten when seconds later another one comes along. On stage they leave awkward pauses.
But that is a minor issue because the return of old favourites Susannah Doyle, Robert Duncan, Ingrid Lacey, Neil Pearson, Jeff Rawle, Stephen Tompkinson and Victoria Wicks is an overall success.
My favourite joke was the mispronunciation of China president Xi Jinping’s name.
Churchill Theatre, Bromley High Street, BR1 1 HA until May 4th. 7.30pm, 2.30pm. Admission: £27 – £48.
Booking: https://trafalgartickets.com/churchill-theatre-bromley/ – 0343 310 0020
