Review: Nerine Skinner: The Exorcism of Liz Truss

Society, Nerine Skinner tells us, moved on after Liz Truss’s untimely/timely exit from Downing Street. Skinner, who made a splash on social media with her impressions of the hapless PM, admits to us that she did not. Here’s the thing: we all moved on for a reason. It’d need to be a pretty strong pull for us to all go back there and, The Exorcism of Liz Truss is not that.

The conceit, that Skinner has been inhabited by Truss and requires separation by holy means, provides a very wobbly framework from which to hang a series of satirical skits and impressions. Skinner is a clearly talented actor, and there’s a set piece involving an interview between Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries that provides a rare moment of flight, Skinner playing both characters in a frenetic and baffling exchange that very much sits comfortably with its two passengers. But there’s just not enough of this to sustain an hour, and much of it is raking old ground (how many times have we heard about pork markets), or just weak.

The Hokey Cokey gets updated to a riff on wokey, owing to the rhyme – a whimsical flame that asked to burn for much longer than it has fuel for. A Texan conspiracy theorist character is every hick joke you didn’t ask for. Overall, the impression is quite workshoppy, a loose collection of ideas that look half-baked when they collide with the real world (cf. mini budget). Skinner tries hard to fish some moral out of this barrel. But after a solid five minutes of gamely explaining, a degree of resignation sets in.