Culture in Chichester

Have escaped London for a couple of days and today am in a damp Chichester. Spend the morning going around the excellent Pallant House Gallery with its wonderful collection of 20th century British art - a good selection of work including several by Peter Blake, Patrick Caulfield, and currently showing several pieces by some of the St Ives artists. Following a restorative coffee and chocolate cake - well it was raining and I needed something purely for medicinal purposes - I head to the Chichester Festival Theatre.

By a stroke of luck I've got about the last ticket to Yes, Prime Minister - not a rerun, but a complete new show written by the original team of Anthony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. I'm one of the oldest in the audience - but then it was last on our screens back in 1988!

Written by Jay and Lynn, and directed by Lynn, this is a bang up to date version of the show, complete with references to SpADs, sub prime mortgages and the hung parliament. The writing is as sharp as ever - combining biting political satire with moments of pure farce - as the events unfold over a weekend at Chequers.

I have to admit I was a bit nervous seeing this as the original was so loved - plus could anyone else than Nigel Hawthorne and Paul Eddington play Sir Humphrey Appleby and Jim Hacker? The answer is a clear yes! Excellent casting with the wonderful Henry Goodman as Sir Humphrey, and David Haig (who has also been in the politically sharp The Thick of It) combining bumbling incompetence with political opportunism as Jim Hacker. Full of laughs it has had good reviews and deserves a West End transfer. A wonderful antidote to the damp bank holiday weather.