The Real Housewives of Codswallop – Review

Image above: The Real Housewives of Codswallop

The bastard child of American television is alive and well in an English village

As if  the American TV franchise Real Housewives weren’t bad enough, (The Real Housewives of Orange County / Beverly Hills / Dubai), last week Theatre at the Tabard brought us The Real Housewives of Codswallop. Forewarned is forearmed, the clue is in the title. But was it entertaining codswallop?

Review by Simon Thomsett

The Tabard Theatre in Chiswick played host to a visiting production last week in the form of The Real Housewives of Codswallop, a new musical by Lisa Gaye Wright.

Nouveau riche Majenta (Nick Duncombe) is keen to show off her new, ostentatiously large house and decides to hold a botox party and invite her friends, most of whom in the event send messages to say they are unable to attend.

However, two of her most dependably up-for-it drinking chums, Monika Brodowska’s nice but dim Sophia (“are you sure this dress doesn’t make me look fat?”) and Terri Spencer’s alarmingly be-wigged Tamsin turn up and over the course of their evening together, expose poor Majenta’s fragile pretensions.

Duncombe has a lot of fun holding court, insisting the distinctive chimneys on her home are referred to as turrets and jollying everyone along whilst only occasionally letting her working class roots show through when the posh accent slips.

Her best moment comes after the interval when she suddenly betrays previously hidden anger at modern life (“even the issues have issues these days”) as she rages against the fashion for “-isms”.

The problem with the show is that is doesn’t really have a story, which leaves the likeable cast to fall back rather too often on repeat gags and over-done mannerisms, Tamsin’s Sybil Fawlty laugh being perhaps the most grating, and as a result it loses its grip.

The highlights are the musical numbers, which have polish, and occasional flights of fancy including a song devoted to a carrot called Kevin (yes, really). The cast worked hard to keep us amused.

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