A different take on Victorian family values

In the Parlour with the Ladies Drill Hall, W1

YOU would think you were in for an evening of genteel Victorian entertainment, decked out as this parlour is in seasonal shades of red and green, liberally garlanded with holly.

The more subversive side of this homespun entertainment, though, is hinted at by the painting of a nude woman smiling down coquettishly on the proceedings.

It starts wholesomely enough, with some plaintive singing from daughter Clara, a sweet-voiced Lisa McNaught, a vision in pink and lace who has, strangely, rejected all manner of male suitors. Enter Allison Harding's Auntie Bella after 10 years away travelling the musicalhall world as her alter ego, Dirty Bertie Bell.

So battle is joined as histrionic hostess Anna Margarita (a dame- like Karen Mann) tries, in vain, to prevent Bella exerting her downmarket will on events and singing The Man who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo in full Vesta Tilley mode.

All is not what it seems, though, and with the arrival of gatecrasher Billy, and family skeletons fairly tumbling out of closets (and I use that word advisedly), we face the prospect of a type of relationship that Queen Victoria never believed existed. But, in the end, they all live Saphically ever after.

Nona Shepphard has eschewed her annual pantomime for this cosy assortment of song and melodrama, which still has its fair share of cross-dressing and innuendo. It concludes with our cast taking up instruments for a spot of American Dixie. What versatile ladies they are!

. Until 11 January.

Information: 020 7307

Copyright 2002
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