Lipman is one of those actors you recognise instantly, even if you can't quite remember why, and she's been a fixture on the theatrical landscape for many decades. Over the years she's done a lot of comedy, and this show is a reminder of those talents. It's a mix of comic song, jokes and mini dramas, with music provided by weel kent jazz couple Jacqui Dankworth singing and Charlie Wood on piano. Plus the surprise inclusion of Lipman's pal, Harry Shearer (of Simpsons fame) on 5 string bass.
She might not be much of a singer, but she certainly knows how to deliver a line and her timing is ultra professional. The jokes feel dated, as she herself admitted, but are punched out with enthusiasm. Lipman's at her best performing comic character parts, sketches really, where she gives us one side of a dialogue. The health technician undertaking a mammogram was especially memorable. And her mimicry talents were sharply exhibited when a swift change of body position tuned her into the UK's hapless PM.
This is nostalgia entertainment, fun enough in it's way, but unchallenging, safe, a tad predictable. Beautifully performed though, and Lipman can't help be engaging, so if you're a fan of hers in any way then you won't be disappointed.
Maureen Lipman is on in the George Square Theatre at 17.45 until 12 August.
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