Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense – Review – East Riding Theatre
By Karl Hornsey, September 2026
Perfect Nonsense, perfectly done. That certainly seemed to be the popular view from the audience at the East Riding Theatre in Beverley on the opening night of their production of the West End stage play Perfect Nonsense, which is a faithful adaptation of The Code of the Woosters, the third of PG Wodehouse’s novels telling the hilarious and convoluted tales of the iconic Jeeves and Wooster.
Richard Avery directs this version of the adaptation by Robert and David Goodale that made its West End debut in 2013, and is a three-hander, leaving an awful lot of characters and costume changes for two of the cast, which only adds to the fun and chaos of the evening.
Aidan Thompson Coates stars as Bertie, who narrates the story of how one of his stickier situations transpired, with Edmund Sage-Green as Jeeves, and Danny Mellor as Seppings, with the latter two each also playing at least four more characters, with suitably frenetic consequences.
“Scrapes and misunderstandings”
The fabulous Art Deco-style set allows the characters to appear and disappear here, there and everywhere, with the 1930s music perfectly in tune with the storyline. The addition on this first evening of a fancy-dress contest among the audience was well received, with several people dressing in the style of day to add to the occasion.
This adaptation sticks very faithfully to the original novel, much to the delight of any Jeeves and Wooster fans, and the farcical nature of Wodehouse’s tale is ideal to transfer to the stage. Bertie, as ever, becomes involved in all manner of scrapes and misunderstandings, while dealing with one of his domineering Aunts and attempting, again as ever, to avoid becoming engaged and tied down.
In this case, it’s the formidable Aunt Dahlia, Madeline Bassett and Stiffy Byng who are the female banes of his life, while the novel also includes the tyrannical Sir Watkyn Bassett and Roderick Spode, and the newt-obsessed Gussie Fink-Nottle, whose cry for help sees Bertie head to Totleigh Towers, where much of this story takes place.
“Ingenious use of props”
It is, quite simply, a wonderfully entertaining production, a farce in the best sense of theatrical entertainment, with the three cast members looking as though they’re thoroughly enjoying themselves, despite the exhausting nature of the story as it nears its end.
Both Sage-Green and Mellor make for interesting female characters to say the least, while the ingenious use of props and the set simply add to the enjoyment. Running over the next fortnight, it’s one not to miss.
Having been a fan since watching the wonderful Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie version, which in turn got me hooked on the novels, I’m firmly in the Wodehouse devotee category, but even if you have no prior knowledge of the author’s work, this is a fabulous evening’s entertainment at a fabulous little theatre.
Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense is at East Riding Theatre until 26th September
images: Nicole Fewster
Karl’s love of writing was piqued at the age of eight, when he won a Blue Peter badge in an essay-writing competition. The location of said badge might be a mystery now, but the memory never fades. Hours spent writing about sport as a teenager, in pre-internet years when you had to make your entertainment, honed his skills, and Karl has worked in TV and radio listings at PA Media for 28 years, and the age of hybrid working means 50% of that can be at home listening to Classic FM and thinking about his next visit to his beloved Yorkshire Dales.
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