B'Stard's back, but the plot's gone missing

10:17am Wednesday 13th June 2007

The New Statesman

The Alhambra

Pin-striped suit and nose aloft, Rik Mayall is back as the ever-amoral political force Alan B'Stard.

Last seen on our screens in the early 90s as a die-hard ultra right-wing Thatcherite, in the decade that has passed, like many politicians, Alan B'Stard had crossed the House and succumbed to the temptations of New Labour, metamorphosing into a full-on Blairite.

The new stage show version, called the New Statesman: Alan B'Stard's Extremely Secret Weapon, sees the infamous politician now living at number nine Downing Street. He has two main aims, the campaign for leadership of the Nouveau Labour party and joining the exclusive Trillionaires Club.

Mayall is convincing as a 21st century B'Stard and manages to offend just about everyone in society, with Tony Blair being his prime target.

But the script, written by the writers of the original TV show Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, lacked the acerbic wit of satirical news comedy, such as BBC's Have I Got News for You, Radio Four's News Quiz, or the work of Armando Iannucci.

In fact, the script could have been written by a couple of A-level politics students trying to impress their teacher.

It had that feel of a 30-minute sitcom which gets made into a made-for-TV 90-minute film. Yes, the comment on 21st century politics was there, the gags were there, the comedy characters were there, but it just lacked pace and plot.

Saying that, Rik Mayall has the ability to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear and with just a raise of an eyebrow or a thrust of the pelvis he got a laugh at almost every line.

The New Statesman runs at the Alhambra until Saturday.

For tickets call (01274) 432000.

e-mail: ali.davies@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

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