"The Last Stand Of Mrs. Mary Whitehouse" by Caroline Bird.

Nottingham Playhouse.

Whether you believed that Mary Whitehouse was a campaigner for the clean or one of the fun police, there's no denying that people listened to Mary Whitehouse back in the 1970's, sometimes to the detriment of Whitehouse's clean campaigns. If someone tells you not to watch something which includes filth, what do you do? Yes, you watch it, just to see what all the fuss is all about!

Her massive personality was such that she was lampooned on the 1980's satirical show "Spitting Image" on several occasions.

She was the founder and first president of the National Viewers and Listeners Association, through which she led a longstanding campaign against the BBC, for what she perceived as a lack of accountability and excessive use of bad language and portrayals of sex and violence in its programmes. 

Back in 1976, when the play starts, I was just thirteen years old, and Mary's opinions were of no interest to me, so she flew completely under my radar. Since discovering her again from "Spitting Image", and then again via this play, while I personally do not agree with her moralistic high ground, I do have respect for the woman and what she believed that she believed in.

Caroline Bird, who regular Playhouse patrons may remember from the wonderful "Red Ellen" which was also staged at The Playhouse back in 2022, delves into Whitehouse’s most explosive battle; her infamous blasphemy trial against Gay News and a poem that the paper printed in it, which she believed libelled the Christian faith as well as Jesus. It's an education for anyone who doesn't know an awful lot about Whitehouse, and while there's a lot of comedy written in, there's also quite a bit of sadness as we discover her early life with her parents and her own family life.

The play is a work of fiction inspired by real events. Some characters and scenes have been imagined, or have been combined from various sources including diaries, court records and interviews. There are some scenes which do come as a shock, especially what happened to Jacob after Whitehouse's "advice". 

There's also a scene where she invites a news reporter over to film her; she wheels round a trolley of tea and her favourite home-made Victoria Sponge with raspberries from the garden, only to wheel it back inside untouched when she discovers, after questioning, that the reporter is a suppressed gay man. Is Mary Whitehouse homophobe or just seriously misinformed and educated? I personally would not like to conclude on the latter as she was a very intelligent woman. Needless to say the play allows you plenty of questions.

Maxine Peake plays Mary Whitehouse in a powerhouse of a performance where she rarely leaves the stage. All costume and wig changes are done on stage and with every change of costume and wig, Maxine seems to morph backwards and forwards age-wise. From footage of Mary you can tell that Maxine has studied the character stoically and conveys every foible, look and sound of this powerful woman.

Something else that I noticed was the similarity, voice wise, with Julie Walters' characterisation of Mrs Overall from Victoria Wood's "Acorn Antiques" and almost expected the "Two Soups" sketch to be played out by Whitehouse. Could Julie Walters have been inspired by Mrs Mary Whitehouse, I ask myself?

Samuel Barnett plays every other role in the play, and there are a fair few, including among them Mary's Mother, a documentary filmmaker, a Roman Centurion, Margaret Thatcher and Jesus! If Samuel's name rings a bell, he played the part of Posner in the iconic Alan Bennett play, and later film, "The History Boys". A great pairing as Samuel also morphs wonderfully into each character played, both male and female, complete with some pretty nifty costume changes.

Directed by Sarah Frankcom this play rolls along at a fair old pace, thanks to scene, costume and wig changes done in full view of the audiences. Maxine and Samuel are experts in comedy timing and balancing the comedy with the more serious stuff is managed perfectly, often swinging from one emotion to the other on the turn of a sixpence, especially with the scene between Mary and Ms Tweedy in the second act.

Set Designer is Peter Butler and there's a lot to take in. From sitting in Mary's back garden through television studios, back stage dressing rooms to the reception room of 10 Downing Street.

Lighting design is by Malcolm Rippeth and sound design is by Annie May Fletcher. The lighting allowing you to be drawn into the solo speeches by Mary, and then widening to expand the scenes. Many sound cues surround you which are all perfectly timed.

Liz Flint ensures that all the accents and vocals are spot on, being the Vocal and Dialect Coach.

I love a play that entertains and educates and this one certainly did that for me. Before tonight I always viewed Mrs Mary Whitehouse as a bit of a killjoy, never really acknowledging what a charismatic person she was, nor did I realise the full power that she could wield throughout the media and the upper echelons of power in the 1970's onwards. As I mentioned earlier, I don't agree with her views on everything, but this play has given me an understanding of why she  thought in this way.

"The Last Stand Of Mrs. Mary Whitehouse" is at the Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 27 September.