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1 June 2026

What ho! Spiffing! And it’s really rather jolly good of you to join me for this review. No, I’ve not forgotten my medication, I’ve spent an evening immersed in the world of Jeeves and Wooster thanks to Maskers Theatre Company and their production of Perfect Nonsense.

For those of you unfamiliar with this British cultural phenomenon, Jeeves and Wooster were the creation of P.G. Wodehouse and have been the stars of 35 short stories, 11 novels, numerous film, radio and TV adaptations (perhaps most famously with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie) and even a musical or two. The stories all revolve around Bertie Wooster, a rich young foppish chap, and his valet (or “gentleman’s gentleman”), the eponymous Jeeves, with hefty helpings of domineering aunts, vapid cousins, boorish friends, sticky situations and comic misunderstandings thrown in for good measure, all usually solved by Jeeves’ quick thinking and adroit handling of the situation.

Perfect Nonsense is a play within a play: Bertie is telling us the story of what happened to him at Totleigh Towers. However, as one of the chaps at the Drones Club told him that he should be on stage, he’s taken it upon himself to tell us this tale through the medium of a one man show, but ends up needing the help of Jeeves and Seppings, another valet, to tell it properly. And that’s it for the cast, just three people on stage; however, there are many more characters involved in this story! Cue an evening of people rushing on and off stage, changing costumes rapidly, using some creative entrances and exits and making Bertie’s play an overall success.

As the lynchpin of the entire play (and yes, the play within the play), Bertie Wooster needs to be bold, brash, more than slightly foolish and very engaging – Sam Hussey manages this excellently, embodying the foppish fool incredibly well. As the actor with the lion’s share of the dialogue and having to be our narrator and guide through the story, he managed to keep the energy up throughout the entire production and kept us engaged, including by breaking the fourth wall to engage with us directly (and hide the evidence of a crime or two) and occasionally jumping out of the play within the play to comment on how the play is going (trust me, it’s not as confusing as it sounds).

As the counterpoint to Bertie’s frenetic energy, Jeeves is stoic, stately and measured, and Adam Taussik pulls this off very well, a beacon of calm on the stage; well, when he’s playing Jeeves that is – Adam has to pull off three other characters in this, all of whom are distinct and well realised. Special mention has to be made to the section where two of his characters are talking to each other, with lots of rapid moving back and forth between positions and swapping hats. This got funnier the more it continued, but was also a brilliant demonstration of Adam’s acting skills.

Finally, Johnny Carrington brings life to Seppings and a whole host of other characters in fine form. This was played with a lot more of a knowing wink at the audience, but was an absolute delight to watch, particularly as the would-be inspector seemed to have grown in height every time they came on, and Aunt Dahlia was a real treat too!

In terms of staging, Maskers is a small theatre, and the staging was kept simple but very effective, making use of changeable flats and projected pictures to help identify the scenery. Props were done remarkably well, from a bathtub to a motor car (a very enjoyable sequence indeed) to a movable dictator, and sound effects were used to great effect, occasionally allowing the actor onstage to have a conversation with themselves offstage.

Whilst there were a couple of minor issues, such as a few hesitations with the dialogue and the sound effects not always quite landing on cue, these were easily forgiven and I and my fellow audience members left with huge smiles on our faces. Jolly good show all round!

- Jon Cockeram

Audience Comments

"I haven’t laughed so much for ages"- I.T.

"We attended your Jeeves and Wooster play last night (1/6/26) … please thank your 3 exceptionally talented gentlemen who played their roles (and more) to perfection. We all thoroughly enjoyed the performance and would like to thank all involved on stage and behind the scenes. Thank you. " - C.

"Really loved this show, just what we need" - F.A.

"I’ve always loved Jeeves and Wooster but now I feel I know them" - B.S.

"Fantastic show we couldn’t stop laughing" - C.C. & R.C.

"I haven’t laughed so much at a show, fantastic all round" - S.B.

"So much to see and surprises round every door ….." - anon