David Baddiel My Family: Not The Sitcom at the Nottingham Playhouse Review

Reviewed by Tammy & Anthony Wildblood

We were asked to do the review of David Baddiel My Family: Not The Sitcom at the Nottingham Playhouse, which we gladly accepted. It was a lovely night for the theatre as the weather was hot, so we set of early, as we always do, because traffic in and around Nottingham can be hit and miss. Last night was one of those nights where it was clear. We parked as we always do close to the theatre itself as it is only £2 if you get there for 6pm as it is free after 8pm.

Both of us are fans of David Baddiel from his days when he did Baddiel & Skinner Unplanned and Fantasy Football, so to go and see someone who made us laugh on TV was an opportunity that we both couldn’t turn down.

The scene was set with backdrops of photos of David Baddiel with his family from a child, up to the current day and relaxing music was playing. The show opened with Baddiel showing the audience a number of tweets that he has posted on his Twitter account. The tweets were the best ones with the most re-tweets and favourites. These are funny tweets, and this started us off very nicely for a show which promised to be a very funny night. David then goes on to introduce us to his family members that are going to be part of the show, as it’s called My Family: Not The Sitcom.

Baddiel gives the account of his family members in a very, very true fashion and he makes it a very personal affair with the audience, and you’re dragged in to what can only be described as mesmerising, it’s like having a “crash” course in English and how to be Jewish. Baddiel gives a very honest portrait of his family. His mother died suddenly three years ago, and she was mainly the topic of the night, His dad suffers from Pick’s disease, a form of dementia. David was basically telling us a story of his parents and his life experiences with them, bringing a whole new lease of life to the comic world as it was just sheer brilliance. There was humour and also at times made you go gasp as you wouldn’t expect the stories about his mum, they are quite shocking really. It was deeply touching at times with the things that David has had to go through with personal stories about both family members.

Much of the show is about his mother and her love affair with a golfer called David White. Some, if not all the material used for this part of show, can be quite challenging to take in if you’re not into comedy that is. You can tell from listening to Baddiel that on some occasions this affair his mother had with the golfer got him rather upset and he choked up at times, but on the other hand you could tell he was happy and proud of his mother in the other stories he told us about her.

David then goes to tell us about his relationship with his father, or should I say, the not so much of a relationship with his father and you could tell that his made David rather upset at times. Yes his father maybe ill but Baddiel reckons it hasn’t changed him much as some of the traits of Pick’s disease were normal for his father and the things his father does are hilarious, an example is, his dad was going to theatre for an operation and he was basically swearing at the nurses all the way!! Although David Baddiel tells us about his life through the use of video clips, to which there are quite a few, there were times when his father was genuinely proud of him and loving. Clearly, he was a good father at times too and being a parent ourselves, these stories made you relate to your childhood and what we are like, as parents now that just goes to show just how powerful these stories were.

Some of this material might be tough for some members of the audience as we did hear a few tuts behind us due to the way he spoke about his parents, but he was just telling the truth, and after all his mother would have loved being the centre of attention!! This could also be tough on the audience as some of their own family members may have just died, might be suffering from dementia but as Baddiel puts it, you need to laugh about stuff or you will only cry, and this was his own way of dealing with whatever has happened in life and this is why the show is such a success. You really have to see it to believe it but be very open-minded.

I would highly recommend going to see.

Rating: 5/5

David Baddiel My Family: Not The Sitcom is currently on tour around the UK, for more information and tour dates visit www.davidbaddiel.com.

For other shows at the Nottingham Playhouse visit www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk or call the box office on 0115 941 9419.

Nottingham Playhouse, Wellington Circus, Nottingham, NG1 5AF | 0115 941 9419