Writer: PG Wodehouse
Adaptors: James and Edward Duke and Hugh Wooldridge
Director: Hugh Wooldridge
PG Wodehouse created his iconic set of characters in 11 novels and 35 short stories published between 1915 and 1974, and they capture a bygone era of posh upper-class toffs moving in a rarefied circle of friends and their servants. Bertie Wooster does not realise how much he relies on the dependable Jeeves in getting him out of the scrapes that the stories tell. There have been famous incarnations of these characters by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie in the 90s and Ian Carmichael and Denis Price in the 60s on TV. Edward Duke created this one-man show version in 1980, and his director Hugh Wooldridge revives it at the Charing Cross Theatre for a short season. On the plus side, the theatre is air-conditioned, but the rumble of trains overhead and the frayed and tired seats in need of repair are somewhat distracting for the audience.
Sam Harrison plays all 22 characters in these two hours, our dip into that anthology, starting with Jeeves’ arrival and the story of Jeeves Takes Charge. We can tell who is who by the accents he adopts, but it is not enough to engage with the narrative. The programme says the time is 2025 and he plays all the characters in the first half in a modern open-necked shirt and slacks, although nothing about the stories suggests an updated time frame and they still feel like a glimpse into a long-forgotten bygone era. At least in the second half he dons a silk dressing gown and then a striped blazer and boater, although all the characters wear the same costume.
On the plus side, we can admire Harrison’s energy, physicality and vocal dexterity as he switches from one character to another, but the delivery is over the top, every reaction is exaggerated and lacks nuance and subtlety so that it becomes wearing and irritating. Not everyone in the audience feels that way, with some very loud guffawing and chortling at every line. It’s like hearing a prerecorded laugh track for a 1980s TV sitcom designed to point out all the lines that are meant to be funny. Although why anyone would laugh out loud at a line describing Madeline Bassett as “a ghastly girl” is baffling
The narrative tells the story of the breaking off of Wooster’s engagement to Florence, the returning of a truant girl Peggy to her school, and the lisping Gussie Fink-Nottle’s engagement to Madeline Bassett and drunken speech at Market Snodsbury Grammar School, although curiously Jeeves plays very little part in the last.
The real star of the show is the wonderful set design and projections by Caite Hevner using three projectors to transform the box set from Berkeley Mansion to The Drones Club, to Easby Hall, the roads to Brighton, Deverill Hall, and a tent in Steeple Bumpleigh. These constantly changing and beautifully illustrated images transport us back to Wooster’s world and provide perfect settings, although there is so much detail to take in that your mind drifts off the storytelling to admire the work.
The essence of the PG Wodehouse stories is the relationship between Jeeves and Wooster, and this play is at its best when the dialogue is between the two of them, and we can see that Jeeves is In Charge. For the rest, it feels like inconsequential nonsense that only PG Wodehouse fanatics would truly enjoy.
Runs until 6 September 2026
