Billed as “a surrealist musical about the rise and fall of the Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg,” this description doesn’t even touch the sides in explaining how downright zany this new production is. It also doesn’t tell you how clever, innovative, energetic and enjoyable it is too.
Welcomed into the auditorium to the echoes of Nimrod from Elgar’s Enigma Variations, we see a sleeping figure on stage. It is Nick Clegg in what the absurdist programme describes as “An Abyssinian Rococo, post-Palladian, Gothic manor house villa, in a faux neo-Classical Sino-Byzantine Basilica style, founded by King Nimrod and pinnacled by the Bauhaus movement in 1973.” As Lord Clegg awakens, the show starts with the “miserable” people of Sheffield Hallam questioning their new MP on his status at the centre: Clegg is neither left nor right, so what is he, and how can such a person possibly exist?? From there, we embark on a whistle-stop run through the rise and fall of Nick Clegg, the coalition government, the Alternative Vote (AV) voting system, and Clegg’s relationships with David Cameron, Gordon Brown and George Osborne.
This play not only requires you to suspend belief in reality, but enter a new plane of existence where Sheffield Hallam is an island in the Antarctic, David Cameron is a down-home American cowboy, and Nick Clegg invented Liberal Democracy. My advice? Just go with the flow! Enjoy the witty songs, the crazy storyline, the excellent singing, and the fine comic acting. Horace Smith, who co-wrote the piece with Virgil Solomon, plays Clegg excellently as the tragic hero on an epic journey, displaying naivety, gullibility, and genuine likability. His delivery of the show’s musical numbers is always entertaining, and I especially liked “I am a Radical Centrist”, in which Clegg proudly declaims, “I am neither stripe nor spot, cold nor hot.” In addition to acting, singing, sword-fighting, and playing the piano, at one point, a saxophone appears, and Smith gives it a pretty good go too.
The cast of fifteen talented young actors all do a great job. David Cameron is portrayed by American actor Pepper Jensen, who lends the former Prime Minister a strong American accent. He has excellent chemistry with Horace Smith, and by the end of the play, I was really beginning to believe that Cameron was born in Kentucky. Miles Blanch as George Osborne, the “chancellor of shadows”, gives it his all and is rewarded with many both creepy and hilarious moments, rightly eliciting much laughter. The ensemble cast delivers some big musical numbers, crowding the stage as Clegg’s constituents or a bunch of rowdy MPs for my favourite song of the night, “The Tory party knows how to party!”
If there is one area for improvement, it would be the introduction of Matt Higgins, who delivered an energetic performance as Jared O’Mara (the since disgraced Labour candidate who won the seat from Nick Clegg in the 2017 general election). His diction wasn’t easy to understand, and he struggled to be heard over the piano at times. This was also true of some of the ensemble pieces, which was a shame as I really did not want to miss any of the carefully crafted lyrics.
The show is simply staged with props that evoke a school play (a cardboard Big Ben, a papier-mâché cactus, a piano), but it is more than sufficient, as the stage is lively with singing and movement throughout the 75-minute performance. Lord Clegg Awakes is a refreshing new play on an unusual topic, produced by a great cast and crew. A highly enjoyable (and slightly bonkers) experience!
Review by Fiona Gilbert
Lord Clegg awakes. He is in an enormous palace. His butlers and concubines sing him awake with their preparations for the day. But he has had a dream. A most unusual dream. He falls asleep once more.
And so we find ourselves in Sheffield Hallam, 2005, at the election of Nick Clegg to Parliament. From here, a zigzag, whistlestop tour through the rise and fall – and ultimate tragedy – of Nick Clegg, inventor of the Liberal Democrat party and the ultimate Radical Centrist. In his sudden rise to power he will find himself choosing between ideological purity and political compromise, as the nefarious George Osborne, Chancellor of Shadows, seeks to lure him into a foul coalition.
This musical comedy throws together a collage of political absurdity from the now-nostalgic Coalition era, remembering Nick Clegg not merely as a minor politician, but as the centrifugal point around which British politics tried, and failed, to be different. It is a surreal adventure through the recent past, and an ultimately moving account of why you must never compromise on your true beliefs.
LORD CLEGG AWAKES
Courtyard Theatre, 10 to 13 August 2025
Presented as part of The Camden Fringe
