The Audience - Altrincham Garrick

MIKE Shaw take a bow - and your hugely dedicated and gifted team of costume designers.

Between them they’ve recreated a stunning replica of The Queen’s coronation dress and the end result is a visually stunning spectacle that’s sure to live long in the memory of those who see it.

But Mike is a multi talented man whose equally adept in the director’s chair and the end result is a hugely enjoyable evening’s theatre.

The Audience comes from the pen of Peter Morgan who re-imagines what was said during Her Majesty’s weekly meetings with her Prime Ministers.

It’s a work of pure fiction of course. But there’s an air of engaging authenticity in Morgan’s dialogue that made me secretly hope there was a modicum of truth in at least something that was said behind closed doors.

You don’t have to be an admirer of the Royals to enjoy this. But there’s no getting away from the fact HRH came through a host of challenges despite her vast array of privilegrs.

We also meet a younger version of The Queen as she struggles to come to terms with her status and her destiny.

Ros Greenwood gives the performance of her Garrick career as the older version of our late monarch and I really enjoyed her natural rapport with Mark Jephcott who played quite brilliantly our former pipe smoking PM, Harold Wilson.

Equally enjoyable is Nick Sample as Churchill and Steven Finney who gives a show stealing performance as the much maligned John Major. I still laugh when I think of the way Major was so mercilessly lampooned on the brilliant Spitting Image.

The Audience definitely gets my vote. Enjoy.

Until May 25. Tickets are available from 0161 928 1677 or www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star rating - ****

Photo by Martin Ogden.