★★☆☆☆ Vera is raging outside, desperate to penetrate a residential care home. No, this is not a thriller. Vera is a storm that threatens to engulf the world that exists for five elderly ladies in Gravesend, and the river is rising. She does deserve a special mention though, as the lighting and sound effects throughout this play, written by Sandi Toksvig, are very well done.

The form of the evening was very much anecdotes about composers, royalty, or both, with appropriate musical interludes interspersed. Some were well known like Elgar (or Eljar, as Lanier spouts, disparagingly) and others like Eccles, less renowned. However, did you know that Eccles was Music Master for 35 years for no more than four monarchs!