Rosie Holt brightened the Covid years with her social media posts as an unconsciously self-satirising Tory lady.
With her sleek hair, smart but sensible clothes and squirmingly unctuous manner she turned insincerity into an art form. Her persona was of an ambitious Conservative politician holding a steadfast, principled position, until in mid-sentence she realises the implications of what she is saying and she starts to support the reverse position with equal vehemence.
It was inevitable that Rosie Holt would put her character on stage for a more mainstream audience. At some stage in the transition from the tiny social media screen to the stage, however, she was touched by the fickle finger of fate as the political landscape changed. With the current Labour government in power, satirising the Conservatives is poor game. This show therefore sees Rosie Holt as a Labour MP, the first female Chancellor of the Exchequer.
She is on stage alone for most of the performance where she is berated on the telephone by the prime minister’s aide on the one side and is herself cajoling an offstage PA who desires such accommodations as a ‘mental health extended lunchbreak.’
The minister is addicted to banal politician-speak like ‘stories beat spreadsheets’ and is hopelessly out of her depth in a media interview; she repeatedly tries to take control but messes it up when her dignity collapses into ‘fuckity-fuck-shit-wank.’
The bathroom furniture of the title is in the Chancellor’s private bathroom which for a long time was used by the Great Man himself. Some of the funniest moments of this piece come when Churchill, in the form of the versatile Michael Lambourne, starts speaking to the minister from the urinal, giving fruity advice.
Holt plays it well, her engaging personality making light of her many interactions with the audience. But the material does not feel strong. The stained urinal as a feminist symbol of the pressure of continuing patriarchy is good, but it’s all there is. The whole play is about Churchill’s urinal – I suppose this is a ‘there’s a clue in the title, mate’ moment – but I did expect more.
Unfortunately, it brings to mind other comedy routines. An imitation of the voices of famous politicians saying silly things sounded uncomfortably like BBC Radio 4’s Dead Ringers. The minister being put upon by a bumptious civil servant is a great comic situation as Yes Minister proved in the 1980s but it needs an advance for a re-run, I didn’t see it here.
Playwright: Rosie Holt
Cast: Rosie Holt, Michael Lambourne
Duration: 70 minutes
Until: 6 June 2026 Edinburgh 13-23 August 2026