6 December – 4 January
Directed by Hugh Wooldridge, Jeeves Takes Charge is a one-man show in which Sam Harrison brings a multitude of P G Wodehouse’s comic characters to vivid life. We are taken back to the 1920s, to a section of high society where a wealthy young man could employ a ‘gentleman’s gentleman’, a valet who could wait upon his every need. These stories belong to that fine tradition of tales where the servant is far cleverer than the master; predecessors include The Marriage Of Figaro, and successors surely include Wallace and Gromit. Here the foolish master is Bertie Wooster, who Harrison portrays as an elastically-limbed, foppish loafer with considerable charm but a shortage of brainpower. In contrast, his valet Jeeves is less expansive in gesture, more sepulchral in tone, and determined to keep Bertie away from an impending marriage. The plot revolves around whether Bertie can fulfil his fiancée’s wish to have his uncle’s scandalous memoirs destroyed before publication. If he fails to get rid of the manuscript, the marriage is off. However, if the marriage goes ahead, Jeeves will be out of a job, for ‘When the wife comes in the front door, the valet goes out the back.’
As the story develops there are very amusing encounters with the fiancée, Lady Florence, who is ferociously demanding, and with Uncle Willoughby, who is decidedly decrepit. But funniest of all are the scenes where Bertie runs into Florence’s young brother Edwin, a precocious little horror who causes him no end of trouble. All these characters, and more, are sharply delineated, with Harrison switching between roles in the twinkling of an eye. Locations, too, are changed with equal swiftness in a cleverly designed set that features wood-panelled walls with large picture frames within which projected images indicate where the action is taking place. There is also a detailed and slickly delivered sound design that does much to enhance the sense of shifting locales.
The second part of the show features Bertie’s chum Gussie Fink-Nottle giving a decidedly inappropriate speech to a hall full of schoolchildren. This is fun, but it lacks the tension and intrigue of the earlier plot involving the uncle’s manuscript.
There are currently stories in the news that suggest that we have long lost patience with spoilt men from privileged backgrounds whose limited intellect and unwillingness to hold down a real job leads them into serious trouble. Yet we still find the feckless and foolish Bertie Wooster to be forgivable, though there may be those who find the charm of Wodehouse’s stories is perhaps wearing a little thin in places. Some of the comedy is jarring to contemporary ears, not least in the way women are so frequently the target. Lines such as ‘Aunt calling to Aunt like mastodons bellowing across a primeval swamp’ are very witty, but throughout this show there is a pervading sense that women, and strong women in particular, are alien creatures that are to be feared or ridiculed. A touch of misogyny? Though many will say the frothy, lightweight world that Wodehouse created is not meant to be taken at all seriously – the men are ridiculous too.
Sam Harrison’s considerable vocal and physical comedic talents ensure that Jeeves Takes Charge offers an evening of entertaining silliness. His Bertie Wooster is especially memorable, not least when going into a spasm of sheer terror at the mere mention of Aunt Agatha’s name. Devotees of the Wodehouse oeuvre will find much to enjoy in this technically adroit and skilfully performed show.
★★★★☆ Mike Whitton, 17 December 2024
Photo credit: Craig Fuller
