Macbeth, Gilded Balloon
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Your support makes all the difference.Billed as a play, Sexing Alan Titchmarsh is really a long comedy skit, but, after a week of ostensibly serious offerings, this reviewer wouldn't dream of complaining. Richard Braine and Peter Doran's conceit is that the BBC gardening show is being broadcast from the home of Leith Gardeners' Club-chairwoman, Betty Mountshaft (Gilly Tompkins).
Betty has nursed a passion for Alan since their encounter at a railway station 25 years ago, when he removed a piece of grit from her eye, pausing only to play Rachmaninoff on the jukebox, "which I thought showed a sense of breeding''. Since then, however, Betty's romantic tastes are less conventional: a cache of letters has turned up in which she signs herself "Lady Lucifer''.
Tompkins and Braine (who plays a harassed BBC producer) nip offstage to return as other characters, such as the inspector who nicks a member of the audience on whom a pot of hemp has been, er, planted. This is flimsy stuff, but for some irresponsible camping, this is the ticket. Be careful not to block the club's back door, though. As Betty scolds the double-parkers, her rear entrance is very popular.
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