There is a neat irony here: had Tess Seddon been half as charming on the campaign trail as this show about her failed attempt to stand for parliament, she would probably be an MP. But then we wouldn’t have this delightful gem, so while her political ambitions remain unfulfilled, we should be thankful she garnered only 303 votes when she stood for the Yorkshire party by accident in the 2017 general election.
Her failed campaign has been turned into a winning musical that absolutely insists itself upon you, not least because it stars the personable Seddon as herself.
“There will never be a year worse than 2016,” she says at the top of the show, taking us back to what Pinter recalled when writing about Len Hutton in his prime; another time.
Seddon delivers the line with the first of at least 100 eyebrows-raised, if-only-we’d-known looks that she shares in her role. We were so innocent then, the eyebrows say, particularly Seddon who moved back to Yorkshire after a family breakup and the acceptance that she wasn’t going to make it as a playwright in London. She also leaves behind a Tinder hook-up called Sacha whose personality is summed up by the crucifix earring he wears.
Back home she starts to research a fringe group called the Yorkshire party, thinking it ripe for material, but finds herself outed as an infiltrator at a party gathering. Buffeted by the winds of fate, she is selected to represent the group when they realise she is the most electable person in the room.
A cast of four, including Seddon, plus Jamie Noar on keyboards, power their way through a musical pastiche of a show that falters only when it takes itself too seriously. The Yorkshire party, the cast sing, want to put the skip into Skipton, the rad into Bradford and the penis into Penistone. Seddon is not a comfortable performer on stage and her singing is truly appalling, but when she embraces this and ditches the sincerity, the work is joyful.
It’s not Les Mis, but while unsophisticated, it does have a heart the size of at least one of the Ridings.
• Say Yes to Tess is at Leeds Playhouse from 29 March to 2 April and at Camden People’s theatre, London, from 5-16 April.
