Chris Eldon Lee reviews Lip Service Company’s ‘The Picture of Doreen Gray’, which he saw at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn and which is touring nationally.
Have Maggie and Sue gone soft? Surely not? But there are strange spectres of conventional (nay, orthodox) theatre in their latest show; which rather took me by surprise. For a start there is quite a substantial narrative to follow and a series of almost believable characters to relate to. But the good news is they are still beautifully bonkers and perfectly prone to detour the show into discussions about saving toads on the A57 and music therapy for badgers.
If you’ve been hibernating for the past 30 years, Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding are an off the wall, theatrical comedy double act. Their shows are always ‘must see’ … and this is no exception.
Any similarity been “The Picture of Doreen Gray” and Oscar Wilde’s “A Picture of Dorian Gray” is purely intentional…except that in the Lip Service version, Doreen is a disaster. Her Afternoon Local Radio Show (“Have Your Say with Dorren Gray”) is absolutely cringe worthy (worse than Alan Partridge) and her cheesy TV ads utterly nauseating. At 55, the past-it presenter is being pensioned off.
But then, at a school reunion, she spots an art class self-portrait and, like Mr Gray, Ms Gray steps into the picture and enters a Faustian compact for eternal yothfullness.
There is an undercurrent of ‘issue’ in the show to do with the way aging females are regarded – on TV and in real life – but the debates about sensible elastic-waisted slacks and K’s Skips shoes with cushioned soles are largely for laughs….as is everything else in the show.
The duo are merciless with their broadside on broadcast and social media. They send up ‘Top Gear’, the BBC’s coverage of Glastonbury and the very idea of sending a tweet. In the old school art room, adorned with empty gilded picture frames, they brilliantly recreate famous paintings of the past. For example, Doreen loops a shiny Christmas Tree bauble round her ear. Can you guess what it is yet? The Girl with the Pearl Earring, of course. Obvious and hilarious in equal measure.
Maggie Fox (as Doreen) and Sue Ryding (as everyone else) are on top form. Their timing is immaculate – as is their deliberate mistiming – and their gurning is still funny three decades later. And they are a hoot.
It helps to have had a grounding in ‘Tiswas’, ‘Python’ and ‘The Young Ones’…but actually anyone with a slightly warped sense of humour will enjoy this show.
And it’ll take years off you.