Allegra
Growing Bold Graciously
Allegra
byPeter Quilter
Thomas Hopkins Productions and SAMS Entertainment at the Theatre Royal, Windsor until 20th June, then on tour until 8th August
Review by Gill Martin
HEALTH ALERT: National Treasure and Grande Dame of the Theatre Maureen Lipman has succumbed to an acute case of Tourette’s.
Not the rude, sweary tic type, but the saccharine sweet nice-as-pie version that sees her bursting into uncontrollable singing mode. Wherever. Whenever. The butcher’s, the baker’s, the crimper’s, the Indian eaterie, the petrol station. Probably the undertakers wouldn’t be out of bounds to this enthusiastic song thrush and star of Peter Quilter’s new work Allegra. It’s a part comedy, part musical, part fantasy with a pinch of social commentary.
Critics have already been at work casting pearls and the odd poison dart. On the plus side audiences have been good, with this corner of the Royal Borough of Windsor the soft-heartland, only too content to spend a jolly night out with an actress at the top of her game.
Other regional theatres played to reviewers effusing over the polished production, set and lighting spectacles. A couple of broadsheets were stingy with praise, one damning Quilter’s work as ‘a disappointing, sluggish comedy about a dotty old lady.’ OK, La Lipman celebrated her 80th birthday during the run. (Coincidentally she’s the same vintage as Trump but arguably less dotty; and Allegra’s only misdemeanour is offending the locals with her incessant warbling.)
Dear Allegra dances a fine line between froth, fun and absurdity. She is also touchingly vulnerable. At times her crazed behaviour is near to making your teeth ache, at others you just want to hug her for bringing so much joy. Heart-warming or toe-curling, the jury finds in Allegra’s favour. It’s a preposterous premise that a harmless OAP could so annoy her fellow villagers they launch official complaints to the police. And even more incredible that the local bobby should read her the riot act, with threats of a restraining order or even incarceration.
But comedy is the key to Allegra’s success. As Dame Maureen says, ‘To find a comedy which can turn our current face of gloom into an upturned grin of happiness, is rare. Allegra is about a woman who is relentlessly upbeat — in more ways than one. Ibsen it isn’t.’
But we haven’t come for Ibsen, but for pure escapism and gentle humour on a warm summer evening in the royal borough of Windsor, in the shadow of the castle.
Lipman’s timing, on and off stage, is sublime. This is the first time in twenty years she’s toured the UK, a milestone marked by her shifting seamlessly into her ninth decade as star of a new comedy by Tony Award and double Olivier Award nominated playwright Peter Quilter. Quilter serves up a few good jokes but saves the best till almost last when Allegra rues the effect her singing is having on her neighbours when all she wants is to share her joy. ‘Some do cocaine, I do cabaret,’ she shrugs. ‘The ironic thing is it’s the cabaret that gets up people’s noses.’
She is mystified by the response to her singing, which is sometimes just in her head, but mainly very out loud. To such an extent that a waiter headlocks her out of his restaurant. You’d think choirs would be happy to enrol her, but no, she’s been banned by four. Allegra’s unalloyed lust for life, her questionable habit of keeping her dad’s ashes in a cocoa tin, and assorted eccentricities put her at odds with the rest of society and it falls to her younger brother Ronen and her Czech carer Anna, to somehow control her habits without destroying her spirit.
John Middleton is an excellent foil as Ronen, a deeply unhappy man, but loyal and protective of Allegra, driven by frustration with a system that seeks to deaden his sister’s exuberance with a court-imposed drugs regime. He recruits Anna, who brings with her an Eastern European pragmatism and her skill for cooking potato dumplings. Elizabeth Bower plays the role with great sensitivity and humour, establishing a strong rapport with her charge.
Bailey Patrick as PC Rogers completes the cast as the hapless village plod, who veers between anger, exasperation and sympathy for Allegra, even joining in the odd singing, dancing and spoon playing fantasy routines.
Justin Williams, set and costume designer, serves up colourful contrasts of chintzy décor, swirling rainbow knits, cosy purple robes and an ensemble fit for Ascot.
There’s hardly a breath between musical numbers and dance steps. Here, as throughout, director and choreographer Stephen Mear can be relied on to provide a deft touch, balancing pathos and humour with some raw emotion. It rather missed the mark at heaping criticism on the view of those who don’t fit in to society’s rules. But maybe the production’s charm detracts from any impact on a social level. Allegra is, after all, about a dotty old lady.
Gill Martin, June 2026
Photography by Marc Brenner
Mark Aspen 