The Cabinet Minister Reviews Round-up – At the Menier Chocolate Factory starring Nancy Caroll

"Delightfully pacy... funny skewering of Britain’s obsession with class"

"Nancy Carroll’s adaptation of Victorian playwright Arthur Wing Pinero’s parliamentary farce is a delightfully pacy and fully engaging affair"

"The Cabinet Minister (1890)... is a viciously funny, uproarious and wholly engaging farce about social advancement, marriage and the British class system, as well as a damning indictment of the Westminster political milieu."

"This delightfully pacy, elegant and stylish new adaptation by Nancy Carroll (who also stars as Lady Katherine Twombley) positively brims with vitality, full of salacious double entendres and unmistakable contemporary political allusions. With an enchanting set and period-costume design by Janet Bird, the four-act play ... is directed with a winning combination of levity, riotous exuberance and occasional moral seriousness by Paul Foster."

"Highly recommended"

"While maintaining its Victorian perspective, Nancy Carroll has adapted it with great subtlety and style as well as playing Lady Katherine Twombley, spendthrift wife of Cabinet Minister Sir Julian Twombley (Nicholas Rowe)."

"Shades of Mrs Cheveley hover over Phoebe Fildes’ diabolically funny Fanny Locksture while Dillie Keane’s formidable Scottish Lady Macphail and her tongue-tied son (Matthew Woodyatt) might have stepped out of a Goldsmith comedy. Elegantly staged and beautifully performed by an outstanding ensemble cast, Paul Foster’s fast-paced production delivers delight from stem to stern. Highly recommended."

"Frothy farce... A must-see for all"

"Perfect timing for a Victorian satire on political freebies"

"This frothy farce about an 1890 cabinet minister ‘accepting favours’ never stoops to nudge-winking to make its point – and is all the better for it"

"Nancy Carroll, better known as an actor, brings an adaptation of Arthur Wing Pinero’s 1890 comedy that is as sparkling as they come – springy, silly and full of satirical sting."

"There is no stage comedy out there quite so funny, and this is as frothily enjoyable as it is pertinent. A must-see for all, current cabinet ministers notwithstanding."

"Heaps of fun as Pinero meets Carry On"

"Nancy Carroll’s fruity adaptation gives the dated farce a fresh pair of legs"

"The plot itself is still pure froth, but the director Paul Foster ensures that it’s unpacked with real zest"

"The four-act comedy hurtles along so cheerfully that you barely have time to worry about the snobbery and the tangle of storylines. This play is like a glass of fizz that hits the spot."

"Gifted cast delivers plenty of belly laughs"

"Fine-tuned take on Arthur Wing Pinero’s 1890 farce is frivolous fun"

"While Arthur Wing Pinero’s 1890 farce ridicules a predicament from a bygone era, Nancy Carroll’s adaptation makes it wittily resonant and Paul Foster’s pacy, lively production delivers a fair amount of belly laughs from a gifted cast."

"Nicholas Rowe’s melancholic, deadpan Sir Julian is a fitting contrast to his spendthrift wife Lady Katherine, to who Carroll lends a mischievous theatricality. Rosalind Ford and Joe Edgar as the youthful Twombleys Imogen and Brooke, and their respective love interests, the globe-trotting, blind-to-his-own-privilege Valentine (George Blagden) and excitable Effie (Romaya Weaver, fresh from drama school) bring terrific, playful energy."

"It’s frivolous fodder, but this is a fine-tuned take on Pinero’s rarely staged, high-spirited jibe at high society."

"Dillie Keane and Matthew Woodyatt are a hilarious double act"

"Carroll is the star turn here. She brings an Edina Monsoon-like AbFab energy and physical comedy to the chaotic Lady Katherine as she watches her life slide away. She’s essentially an awful person, a nouveau riche snob who, like Eddie, lays bare the awfulness of her world. And yet, you can’t help but cheer her every putdown and mad dash to self-preservation."

"Among a great supporting cast, standouts include Sara Crowe ... Dillie Keane ... and Matthew Woodyatt"

"What stops this production from being truly great, as funny as some of its lines and scenes are, is the lack of that singular and relentless escalation you find in the best of the genre. In spite of Carroll’s changes, there’s too much going on, too many trifling side-plots, in every way. It doesn’t build to that perfect pinnacle of comedic disaster."