Lisa Gaye Wright’s new and original comedy spoof musical The Real Housewives of Codswallop – funny, quirky and full of parody with toe-tapping songs throughout – will be staged at The Theatre at the Tabard in Chiswick from 30 January to 2 February 2023 and the Bread & Roses Theatre, Clapham from 6 to 8 February.
Antics and drama are guaranteed in this totally daft caper and carry on which gloriously bring to life the phenomenon of reality television.
Written by Lisa Gaye Wright (founder of LGW Musicals) and directed by Duncan Trew, The Real Housewives of Codswallop was originally showcased in Bournemouth in June 2022. Enthusiastic audiences loved the humour and topicality of the three main female characters who embody those we see on TV trying to aspire to an affluent lifestyle. In the cast are Monika Brodowska as Sophia, Terri Spencer as Tamsin and Nick Duncombe as Majenta.
Wright has enjoyed writing the colourful, larger then life characters:
“I was fascinated by the popularity of programmes like Made in Chelsea and The Real Housewives of Cheshire and loved creating some exaggerated characters who we have all met – the ones who try desperately to keep up with the Jones’s but who can’t quite pull it off!”
Nouveau riche hostess with the mostess and all round social climber Majenta has gone up in the world, and it sure has gone to her head. One upmanship and social currency is paramount to this drama queen, who is so full of her own self importance.
Majenta decides to hold a Botox party to flaunt her wealth and enormous mansion. Frenemies old and new gather, as an eager to impress Majenta holds court, but despite the salubrious surroundings, and her best efforts, old resentments simmer to boiling, leading to mayhem and chaos.
This well heeled group of “ladies” with too much cash and a distinct lack of good taste and decorum, revel in ‘wel jel’ jibes, old rivalries and vengeful point scoring.
Nothing is sacred as they bitch and bicker, and things go from bad to worse when an old acquaintance with an axe to grind joins the proceedings, determined to bait, shock and knock Majenta off her high and mighty pedestal.
Bio
Lisa Gaye Wright is an emerging intuitive writer who started writing songs in her twenties to express her creativity. She has a passion for writing strong, feisty and believable women that audiences identify with, and her lyrics reflect everyday issues that affect everyone, beautifully expressed through humour and pathos.
Her first musical Loose Change was staged in 2017 in Bournemouth and Poole. The jazz blues musical is set in a 1950s London basement club and tells the story of a talented but flawed young singer Pearl. Pearl is hungry for success, but unlikely to achieve her full potential because she is in the grip of an illness, that will eventually rob her of everything she has… beauty, talent, love and ultimately her dearest friendships.
The Real Housewives of Codswallop runs at The Theatre at the Tabard in Chiswick and the Bread & Roses Theatre in Clapham
Botox or Bust, Lisa’s second musical was staged in the South West in 2019 but was curtailed because of lockdown. For a woman who is all about appearance, approaching middle age and drooping in all the wrong places is problematic for Madeline Green. The show follows Madeline’s attempts to navigate being newly single in her fifties, reluctantly learning that some things are more important than being popular.
Wright is currently working on a touring production of The Real Housewives of Codswallop.
