Habeas Corpus review: A hilarious, knockout revival of Alan Bennett’s comedy

Bennett’s brilliantly funny farce from 1973 is revived by Patrick Marber at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Jasper Britton and Abdul Salis in ‘Habeus Corpus’ (Manuel Harlan)

Jasper Britton pokes his head through the wafty front curtain, which is lit in a bilious green. He cocks an eyebrow. Even his stethoscope seems to dangle louchely. He is playing Dr Wicksteed, the leading character in Habeas Corpus, Alan Bennett’s brilliantly funny farce from 1973. This is now brought back to life in a hilarious, knockout revival by Patrick Marber at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Britton – who is inspired casting – gestures with practised disdain at a man positioned offstage. “Look at him. Just look at the look on that face. Do you know what that means? He wants me to tell him he is not going to die. ‘You’re not going to die.’ He is going to die.”

The proceedings are predicated on the gap between fiction and reality. The fiction is that professionals know how to keep their hands to themselves; the reality is that even the president of the British Medical Association can use this as a convenient cover when roused to priapism by lust.