Worcestershire | Archive | 2002 | November | 6
From the archive, first published Wednesday 6th Nov 2002.
Review: Single Spies at the Festival Theatre, Malvern.
AS to be expected with anything from the pen of Alan Bennett these two separate stories are both wry, witty and wonderful observations of a time long since gone.
The stories are based on real events involving Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt, two men who were on the payroll of the KGB in the latter part of twentieth century England..
To make this double bill of stories really work you need a couple of good actors, and here we struck gold with the double act of Robert Powell and Liza Goddard, both so experienced at playing serious or comedy roles .... a touch of both required here.
Although I kept on picturing him as one of the bumbling officers in the Detectives series on television with Jasper Carrott, Powell, as both spies, was immaculate, and his co-star was simply stunning when she took on the role of the Queen as she sparred verbally with Blunt, who back in the 1950s was then the surveyor of the Queen's pictures.
And to Mr Bennett I raise my hat.
AW
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