Ben Miller in the Duck House
With a performance to rival that of John Cleese at his best, Ben Miller in the new comedy play The Duck House, shortly to be arriving at the Vaudeville theatre in London, certainly deserves his elevation to the House of Lords.
I’ve just been lucky enough to attend the hilarious new comedy play The Duck House starring Ben Miller at the Yvonne Arnaud theatre in Guildford. This comedy satire come farce is transferring to the West End from the 27th November where it will open at the Vaudeville theatre.
Ben Miller stars in The Duck House at the Vaudeville theatre in London
It’s a laugh out loud show, as most of the audience did in the packed auditorium in Guildford where all tickets for The Duck House have already been sold out for some weeks. The play opens with Labour M.P. Robert Houston, played by Ben Miller, about to defect to the Conservative party in order to save his parliamentry seat as the beginning of the end looms for Gordon Brown’s government. However, the expenses scandal has just broken and Houston is expecting a visit from Tory big-wig Sir Norman Cavendish, played by Simon Shepherd with enormous relish as he symbolises everything we love to hate about the Tory posh boys. Sir Norman is determined to vet Houston to ensure that there are no skeletons in his closet. Cue panic in the Houston household as he tries to explain to his wife, played with Sam Cam aplomb by Nancy Carroll that in fact she is his secretary, and that his bored under-graduate leftie son, portrayed spot on by James Musgrave, is in fact his parliamentary assistant. The glitter toliet seat, the massage chair, the poof and indeed the hanging baskets and the duck house all have to be hidden prior to Sir Norma’s arrival.
Rather than finding skeleton’s in Houston closet, Sir Norman is more likely to find hanging baskets…in scenes reminiscent of fawlty towers, the opening satire transcends in to good old fashioned laugh-out-loud farce as the skilfully adept Ben Miller takes on a Falwtyesq Basil in overdrive full on panic as he attempts to mask all his wrongfully claimed expenses.
The Russian housekeeper, played by Debbie Chazen, is simply fantastic and steels many of the best lines as the acutely politically aware writers throw every M.P. to the lions, which is not unsurprising since writers Dan Patterson and Colin Swash are responsible bewtween them for T.V.’s Mock The Week and Have I Got News For You.
The second act switches, or should I say ‘flips’, to Houston’s London apartment which has been lived in by his son along with his glue sniffing buddy and fiance, played deliciously by the lovely Diana Vickers, who transpires to be not all that it seems. Suffice to say she counts Sir Norman as one of her better paying customers, and her costume of leather basque, stockings and suspenders, well I won’t spoil the surprises in store. Just one tip don’t have a big lunch prior to seeing a near-naked Simon Shepherd, it’s not a pretty sight.
This show in London is bound to sell fast and is only on for a very limited season. Click here for tickets for The Duck House at the Vaudeville theatre.
