Dodgy dealings in Yes, Prime Minister

MICHAEL Simkins, crickets buff, author and actor, who has performed in such diverse productions as Mamma Mia and Pinter’s The Old Masters, this week becomes the epitome of a bespoke civil servant, when he stars with Graham Seed in the hit satirical comedy Yes, Prime Minister at Milton Keynes Theatre.

The smash hit stage production, written, like the TV series, by Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay scored a huge success when it played at The Waterside last year. Now it’s back with a new cast and runs at MKT from Monday until Saturday.

Simkins’ wily cabinet secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby, and Graham Seed (The Archers’ Nigel Pargetter), as Prime Minister Jim Hacker, see the country facing financial meltdown. The only prospect of salvation comes from morally dubious allies – leading to deliciously comic consequences.

Jay and Lynn’s BAFTA award-winning political comedy Yes, Minister, first aired on BBC2 in 1980 and ran until 1984. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 until 1988. They have also wrote three novels, The Complete Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, Volumes 1 and 2, which cumulatively sold more than a million copies in hardback, were on the British top-ten bestseller list for three years and have been translated into numerous languages.

In a world of spin, Blackberry’s and ‘sexed up’ dossiers will Jim Hacker and his team of advisors be able to rescue the country from the edge?

To book tickets call the box office 0844 8717652 or visit www.atgtickets.com/miltonkeynes.

*Antony Sher heads a talented cast in Nicholas Wright’s new play, Travelling Light, which comes from The National Theatre to take up residence at The Waterside from Tuesday until Saturday.

This drama comedy is packed with Jewish humour and tells the story of a young man’s dreams and aspirations to leave Eastern Europe at the end of the nineteenth century to be a part of the birth of movies in Hollywood.

Sher plays a rough-cut timber merchant who finances young Motl Mendl’s dreams and enjoys the benefits of being a potential “big time” movie producer.

For tickets call the box office 0844 871 7607 or go online www.atgtickets.com/aylesbury.