New musical Betty Blue Eyes is set at a time when belts are being tightened and the country’s long suffering citizens are being told by the government that there will be fair shares for all in return for surviving Austerity Britain.  Meanwhile local officials feather their own nests by taking far more than their own fair share.  It is 1947 and having won the war Britain seems to have lost the peace and the country is staggering under the burden of acute rationing, unemployment, and the coldest winter for decades.  The only bright spark on the horizon is the impending Royal Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. 

Based on Alan Bennett and Malcolm Mowbray’s comic film A Private Function, Betty Blue Eyes centres on a pig that is being illegally reared to allow local dignitaries to celebrate the regal nuptials in style while the local population makes do with spam.

A very British musical, Betty Blue Eyes is full of eccentric characters including an evangelical chiropodist, an obsessive destroyer of illegal meat and a collection of bullies, spivs and snobs.

The cast of Betty Blue Eyes is led by Sarah Lancashire, wh is best known for playing Raquel in Coronation Street, and Reece Shearsmith, co-writer and star of dark TV comedies The League Of Gentlemen and Psychoville.

For more about Betty Blue Eyes at the Novello theatre read the First Night Feature or the Big Interview with Adrian Scarborough.

Looking to see some musical theatre? Find out more about London musicals.