What Would Helen Mirren Do?

For those of us under-30s who identify with middle-aged, pre-geriatric culture (you'll know us by our Coronation Steet-filled hard drives and the panic attacks we suffer when we realise we've forgotten our daily fish oil), What Would Helen Mirren Do, Josie Melia's one-woman show inspired by legendary silver screen saucepot Helen Mirren, was always unlikely to fail. And indeed, Melia's sparkling, light-hearted piece, detailing the self-discovery of till-worker Susan (Anita Parry), knows its audience – perhaps at the cost of any wider appeal.

Susan is a middle-aged divorcée due promotion at her Huddersfield supermarket. The audience is taken in and out of corporate team building sessions, Susan's shop, and her newly emptied nest. Parry portrays the cast of characters—a hammy group leader, a seedy manager, a Herculean, hypochondriac co-worker—with a truly gifted ease that's rarely over the top.

Like those sassy ladies' comedies of the noughties from which WWHMD seems to take much of its inspiration (Calendar Girls and Mamma Mia, both mentioned in the performance, come to mind), Parry lulls its audience into a state of quaint, mothered bliss, which at moments can border on dull. But what could on the surface be interpreted as little more than a stage adaptation of these films is in fact more nuanced: Susan's story of finding excitement in a quiet existence speaks to an often-overlooked audience, and Parry's portrayal of Susan's relationship with her disabled son, in particular, is both poignant and tasteful.