I’ve not been to the Watermill Theatre at Newbury before, tucked away as it is in the depths of the countryside. It’s an incongruous setting for a theatre - beautiful flowing river, overhanging greenery, a sense of countryside history, and then, oh yes, a regional theatre of some renown!

My reason for going this time was to see Fanny, the show about the sister of Felix Mendelssohn who, of course, has been overlooked in history despite having plenty of her own successes to write about. I’ve got to be honest that it’s not something I would have ordinarily noticed, except that it was starring the wonderful Charlie Russell from Mischief Theatre.

So, I made it to an afternoon performance and it was a really good play. It’s a comedy, and starring not one but two members of Mischief is always going to draw comparisons. There was some slapstick and some farcical chaos but it wasn’t the same thing as the mischief-makers. The gags help drive the story along, they’re not generally the reason for the story being there in the first place.

The pacing was a little off, there was a lot of talking in the first half and then more singing and action in the second - including an audience participation bit that I personally could have done without. But these are minor complaints in a show where Russell absolutely shone, her co-stars were right there with her, and the story being told was moving and important and yet more evidence in the battle for equality.

I hope this one makes it out of the regional lockers and onto bigger stages because it’s definitely a story worth being told.