From Starmer drama to Trump’s triumph… Act II Revue set to poke fun at the big stories of 2024

The great and ghastly of 2024 will be on the receiving end of a satirical swipe this December… with plenty of new stars promised to give the audience a good giggle.

The Act II Revue is very much part of the festive season in Spalding, and once again the big new stories and characters of the year - both globally and across South Holland - will be brought to life on stage with hilarious consequences.

Donald Trump’s election win across the pond means one popular leader looks certain for a return, but for writer and performer Karl Gernert there are plenty new personalities to lampoon.

"This is our 12th revue and the first time we’re doing one with a Labour Government,” he said.

“When we started David Cameron was Prime Minister. It’s been a real change of emphasis for us as it’s esentially a new cast of characters.

“Over the years it’s been ‘what’s Boris (Johnson) done this year?’ ‘How are we going to do Liz Truss?’ ‘Can we get (Jacob) Rees-Mogg in?’

“It feels like a sitcom where they’ve just changed all the characters, so now we’ve got (Sir Keir) Starmer, (David) Lammy, Angela Rayner… the big Labour beasts we can sink our teeth into.”

The Revue prides itself on offering no easy rides to anyone just because of where they sit in our current culture war.

“We’re politically minded people, but we like to balance it,” Karl added.

“We’ve been having a pop at the Tories for years but it’s easier to have a go at the incumbents in many ways. We’re not going soft because Labour’s in now.

“I’ve just bashed up a sketch about Starmer’s freebies. Once again the news has been generous to us.”

Although penning the show has only recently begun, Karl and wife Charlotte, who co-writes, have been making lists of big stories in the news throughout the year in a bid to give an honest assessment of the past year.

“It’s been an embarrassment of riches in terms of what we can deal with this year,” Karl continued.

“There’s so many things that have happened recently it’s so easy to forget what happened at the start of the year.

“The Post Office scandal only really got going this year, and then there was that glorious Willy Wonka knock-off in Glasgow. And this was an Olympic year as well. There’s so much.

“At the beginning the year Lee Anderson was Conservative. So much has gone on it’s been brilliant - well, brilliant from a writing perspective anyway.

“The nature of writing satire, you need to go fairly close to the line. We didn’t put pen to paper until the US election finished because whatever happened it was going to be significant.”

Once again Karl will be joined on stage by Olivia Black, Penelope Harrall, Jo Wheatley and Death.

Indeed, the Grim Reaper’s musical eulogy to famous faces who have passed away over the previous 12 months remains a firm favourite with the audience.

But in a show where music plays an integral part, there will be more than Death behind the mic.

“We have to think what’s current,” Karl said.

“This has very much been Taylor Swift’s year, so there’ll possibly something for the Swifties. Or that the Swfties will hate.”

The Act II Revue will be performed six times over five nights on Wednesday, December 11 (8pm), Thursday, December 12 (7pm), Friday, December 13 (7pm and 9pm) and Saturday, December 14 (7pm).

Tickets cost £7 and are available by emailing tickets@act2online.co.uk.