Barbara Nice: Raffle!

It’s not a show aimed at the kids, this. Mainly because anyone under the age of say, 25, will be absolutely baffled by the numerous singalongs that our hostess instigates at regular intervals, like a Saga Holidays rep keeping everyone merrily distracted so they don’t wet themselves on the coach.

Barbara Nice is the creation of the blessed Janice Connolly, who started out in seventies punk bands then co-founded Birmingham’s excellent Women and Theatre project – still going strong after 30 years. But she is probably best known to most as the barmaid Holy Mary from Phoenix Nights. Nice is a finely-honed character too, and clearly adored by the ticket-holders (for the show and for the raffle) who’ve sold out the Stand Five this afternoon.

You can appreciate their enthusiasm as Connolly is terrific, hurtling up and down the aisle, dropping in little extra gags left, right and centre. "That’s my Apple Mac" she says, almost as an aside, while shedding a green raincoat. Bet she bought that mac just for that gag.

The main thrust here is the raffle, and there’s a hilarious visual bit as her tech cues up some sexy funk while she grandly displays the glamorous prizes, which range from a Fray Bentos pie-in-a-tin to a bottle of Dettol. The lottery itself reaches levels of near hysteria, but Nice isn’t finished yet. There’s a positive closing message from David Bowie—she reads one of his old ones; he hasn’t sent it from beyond the grave—then a big high-concept finale, actively designed to bond this group of strangers, forever. Nice.