The Royal British Comedy Theatre presents Absolutely Fabulous starring Terry McLaughlin as Edina, Zsa Zsa Lufthansa as Patsy, Annie Larson as Gran, Dene Larson as Saffy and Raya Light as Bubble. We were asked by the Ab Fab group to come by to catch the show and were finally able to attend last week. We hadn’t 
watched Ab Fab too much, but had caught a couple episodes and knew enough to catch references of characters. But none of that is needed at all!
The theatre while small, brought a level of intimacy to the show, that made us feel like the show was being put on for friends. The first episode we saw was “France” where Edina and Patsy head to France for holiday. The girls were up to their usual sex drugs and alcohol shenanigans. The stage presence of Terry (Edina) and Zsa Zsa (Patsy) was great, they were really engulfed in their parts. While Zsa Zsa has a look similar to Joanna Lumley who plays Patsy in the original tv series, Terry took a bit more liberty with her look having really only the red hair and wild fashion sense that Jennifer Saunders brought to the character. Perhaps the greatest exaggeration of character was by Raya Light as Bubble who took the wild hairstyles and outfits Jane Horrocks brought to Bubble and put it on steroids. The timing with this cast is great, one of our favorite parts was Gran (played by Annie Larson) rocking out with Bubble on air guitars. They’re so into the scene and look like they’re having so much fun. We also loved the french narration by Nick Knave.
The next episode we saw was ISO Tank, where Edina gets into the ISO Tank and it changes her life incredibly! Who knew Edina could be such a caring and supportive mother? It just takes that one session in the iSO Tank. Once again, the costume contest was won by Raya Light who brought executive excess to a fabulous level then back to party monster couture for her final look. The most creative “flashback” props were the cutouts of small children versions of Edina, Patsy and Tony (Jeffrey Taylor). These cutouts allowed the actors to slip their faces in the hole with childlike versions of themselves on the cutouts.
While it was a small production company, in a small theatre, there were big wins on the stage. The cast worked great together, we loved the accurate depicting of all the relationships of the original tv cast being brought to the small stage. Especially the smart and snobby Saffron played by Dene Larson, who really nailed
all the sarcasm, snootiness and obvious disdain for her party mother and her friend.
Additional cast members included Karen Ripley, who plays a French peasant in “France” who keeps trying to tell the girls something they don’t quite understand because he’s speaking French and a school teacher who catches the kids during the flashback in ISO Tank is hilarious. She’s so tiny and the rest of the cast looks like they’re towering over her but she holds her own! Marie Cartier played a stewardess who passes out peanuts to the audience, although we missed out on the in flight snack she also plays several other parts in both episodes including Bubble’s secretary and works her facial expressions perfectly. It was awesome to see Ginorma Desmond playing the dog in France, it was the prettiest and tallest dog you’ve ever seen! She also has several other parts in both episodes.
We had a lot of fun and highly recommend if you get the chance to see it you go. The are doing these same two episodes for the rest of the month, so you haven’t missed your chance to see the show and join us when we go in December to see the new episodes Birthday and Magazine. Click here for the event information and let us know what you think of the show.
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