REVIEW: Roman Holiday at the Theatre Royal, Bath

In the search for titles for new stage productions the old film catalogues are providing a great source which might appeal to theatre audiences with a memory of the title. The 1953 award-winning Roman Holiday which starred Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck is the latest romantic tale to find its way to the stage. Adapted for the stage by Kirsten Guenther and Paul Blake and featuring the music of Cole Porter it provides a frivolous enjoyable evening’s entertainment. However, don’t expect the wit and innovation of say the adaption of the 1955 film The Ladykillers or the staging and brilliance of Back to the Future. 

This is a simple story. The programme suggests it is a reversed Cinderella and the script includes the heavy-handed reference “turn into a pumpkin and drive away in a glass slipper” but for those who know their pantomimes, it is more akin to the opening scenes of Aladdin with the Princess escaping the confines of her overprotective court to mingle with the ordinary town folk, meet an eligible bachelor and be pursued by two dubious policemen. The man she meets, Joe, even has a laddish mate, Irving, to assist him but the result is a bit wishy-washy! The programme also alludes to Princess Margaret, the troubled sister of our late Queen who liked a good time away from court, might even hint at press intrusion into more recent Royals and there is a rather explicit call for “closer cooperation with Europe”, but it is all so gentle that if modern references are intended they slip quietly by.