Review: Betty - a sort of Musical, at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester

This week has not been a good one for me. Started off ok, and THEN a nice little bug decides to follow me around; leaving me off work for at least 2 days, having to cancel bits and pieces before Christmas and feeling overall pretty crap. The good news is that it's mostly gone now, but I still wheeze a bit when I laugh. I sound a bit like Patty & Selma from The Simpsons... 

Which was a bit of a problem when watching this the other night.... Because turns out this piece is pretty funny. 

Instead of their new tradition of putting on a well-known/classic musical with a twist over Christmas, the Royal Exchange have thrown the rule book out of the window and are instead giving us the premiere of a brand new work, one written by Maxine Peake and Seiriol Davies. 

A village hall in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, fitted with plastic chairs and a faulty tea urn. A bunch of local players look to attract the Head of Regional Arts at the BBC with not another Puss In Boots, or even an "ambitious Frozen performed on rollerblades". Instead they write through a musical bio-pic of a local hero: Baroness Betty Boothroyd, Labour MP, and the first ever female speaker of the House of Commons. 

And out comes Betty! A sort of Musical 

What to say about Betty then..... Well, you end up having almost two different threads. One being Betty's life (with some creative liberties...), and the other being getting to know the community of Dewsbury Players. And the result, is pretty funny. 

In fact, there are parts of it that are insanity

I don't say this in a bad way. Having a plot in which people are creating something, allows for all the crazy ideas to emerge: from musical styles going from 40s showgirl to a parody of Bohemian Rhapsody, Betty having a rap battle with Maggie Thatcher, to someone in a UV Mr Blobby suit pop up at one point. It's silly, ridiculous and camp. And also VERY Northern. 

Having said that though, "I have not finished this yet" as Boothroyd once said may be one way to describe the pacing, as the first half is very long. In fact, I was wondering if they had forgotten the interval altogether. The second half however, was extremely quick, almost as Boothroyd called "Time's Up".  

Would I recommend this? Yes I would say so, if you fancy on trying something new (not experimental "This is Dewsbury. Not Leeds"), or something for the family with older children/teenagers who may be too old for the traditional panto. It's surprising, camp, silly and an interesting non-traditional choice.