''Monster Raving Loony'' is a play written by the British playwright James Graham. It follows the life and exploits of the British rock musician

Screaming Lord Sutch Screaming Lord Sutch (born David Edward Sutch, 10 November 1940 – 16 June 1999) was an English musician and perennial parliamentary candidate. He was the founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party and served as its leader from 1983 t ...

, and derives its title from the

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

founded and led by Sutch from 1983 until his death in 1997. The play premiered on 6 February 2016 at

Theatre Royal, Plymouth Theatre Royal, Plymouth, is a theatre venue in Plymouth, Devon. It consists of a 1,300-seat main auditorium, The Lyric, which regularly hosts large-scale musicals, opera and ballet; a 200-seat studio, The Drum; and a 50-seat studio, The Lab. ...

and ran for 3 weeks before transferring to

Soho Theatre Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, and Soho Theatre Walthamstow in north-east London. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three pe ...

in London, where it ran from 14 May to 18 June. Directed by Simon Stokes, the original cast consisted of Joseph Alessi,

Samuel James Mark James Harrison (born 28 March 1977), known professionally as Samuel James, is an English actor and voiceover artist, known for portraying the role of Garth Stubbs in the ITV sitcom '' Birds of a Feather'' from 2014 to 2017. He has also s ...

, Joanna Brookes, Tom Attwood, Jack Brown and

Camilla Beeput Camilla Marie Beeput (born 9 September 1981) is an English stage, television and film actress and singer. Winner of the Next Generation, Voice of a Woman Award (2015), Beeput was first discovered on ''Fame Academy'' in 2002 and has gone on to r ...

. All but one of the cast reprised their roles for the London production, with comedian Vivienne Acheampong taking over Beeput's role. The play received generally positive reviews. In his 4 star review for the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'',

Henry Hitchings Henry Hitchings (born 11 December 1974) is an author, reviewer and critic, specializing in narrative non-fiction, with a particular emphasis on language and cultural history. The second of his books, ''The Secret Life of Words: How English Beca ...

called it "an intriguing look at the mechanisms of democracy - dressed in wilfully outrageous garb, yet unexpectedly touching". Time Out, also awarding 4 stars, called the production "poignant, sweet and brave" whilst ''

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' called it a "sharp, canny and original piece of theatre". The play was longlisted for the 2016 Evening Standard Theatre Awards in the Best Play category.

References

{{James Graham 2016 plays Plays by James Graham English political plays Biographical plays about politicians