Updated-The Stop UKIP Tour at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester

Wooster-Farage

The other night my beloved came into the marital dorm mumbling something about UKIP and the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. I immediately thought the casting director must have been looking for Bertie Wooster and Nigel Farage had weedled his way into the auditions and landed the role. But no, it's a political satire called the 'Stop UKIP Tour'.

Now I'm no fan of UKIP, despite being desperate for the UK to leave the European Union. I think their MEPs have gone native, that they lack any credible policies, other than leaving the EU, and that Nigel Farage is an utter charlatan and one of the greatest egotists it has been my misfortune to know or even meet. But for a theatre that I love to be putting on a blatantly party political pile of drivel such as this in the run up to elections, albeit the phoney EU elections which I am boycotting anyway, I am saddened and appalled.

The following is taken from the Royal exchange website and is the reason I am labelling the show a party political pile of drivel:

Ahead of 2014’s European Elections, join Jonny & The Baptists to take on Nigel Farage’s ‘fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists’ – and help stop UKIP forever. 

I spent some years involved with UKIP and know that the party is not racist. Attack UKIP if you want, but base it on reality, bandying the word 'racist' around is baseless and intellectually idle. Like the word 'fascist' the left have ensured that the word 'racist' is virtually meaningless, both being used as baseless smears. Like any political party it has more than its fair share of 'fruitcakes' and 'loonies'. But have you met your average Labour or Tory activist? Even worse any Green or Lib Dem activists? Now they really are off the scale in battiness.

If you're wondering who is performing this work of satirical genius then it's Jonny and the Baptists, here are the details:

From the stars of Radio 4’s The Now Show, Infinite Monkey Cage and Sketchorama, Jonny Donahoe and Paddy Gerver's 2013 show was nominated for the New Act of the Year, Musical Comedy Award & Amused Moose Edinburgh Award.

Oh dear, that's not good is it? White middle class pinko liberals it would appear who probably regard anybody to the left of Tony Benn as a raging fascist and would likely attack a group calling themselves 'Mohamed and the Mullahs' as racist. But they're happy to use the name Jonny and the Baptists. Typical politically correct hypocrisy.

I don't care what a pair of satirical comedians get up to, it's their business. What appals me is that the Royal Exchange Theatre is putting on such a blatantly party political piece. While I would never dream of trying to have anything banned, I may have to consider withdrawing my support for the Royal Exchange Theatre.

*In the last day or two the Royal Exchange have changed the heading of this event on their 'What's On' page from 'The Stop UKIP Tour' to 'Jonny and the Baptists'. They have also added the following:

Jonny & the Baptists: The Stop UKIP tour is a musical comedy show centred on the European Elections in May 2014. Jonny & the Baptists aim to engage and amuse audiences with a range of topics, as they have done to national acclaim for several years. The show offers a satirical take on UKIP policies, while encouraging people towards voter engagement rather than apathy, whatever their views. One of the best things about the UK's creative industries is the breadth of ideas available to audiences at theatres, cinemas and galleries every day, and the show hopes to further encourage that conversation.

They also seem to have removed the comments section on their website, probably because of the adverse comments the show was attracting.