Thursday 26 February 2015

TONY'S LAST TAPE
Nottingham Playhouse, Neville Suite.

Based on the diaries of politician Tony Benn, this play shows Tony as an obsessive recorder of his thoughts and the things that have happened to him and in his world. These are recorded on several recording devices ranging from reel to reel tapes to dictophones to cassette tapes.

He's recorded and documented everything over the last 50 years but he has reached the point that he now thinks that enough is enough and he has decided to record his last tape.

Philip Bretherton is in residence in this one man show as Benn and does actually sound a bit like him, and is strangely captivating, maybe because Benn's private life and diaries were never really splashed over the papers so it's like discovering some secret. The contents of the diaries though turned out to be not so exciting or revealing, but the man himself, Benn that is, has a certain magnetism and wit, which was brought out by Bretherton in this 75 minute or so incite into the private world of one of Britain's most respected and celebrated MPs.

Written by local author Andy Barrett, whose other well known work for the Nottingham Playhouse include "The Day That Kevin Came" and "Garage Band" and directed by Giles Croft.

"Tony's Last tape" can be seen at The Neville Suite, Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 28 February 2015 but tickets are only available for Saturday matinee, but they're few and far between so check first.

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