Sam Fraser meets playwright Barbara Mackie.
Katie Martin Show, BBC Radio Solent, 6 November 2014
Rumpy Pumpy - a case of tea and crumpets
Style of Wight
Exuberant Musical is a sell out!
Barbara Jane Mackie should take great satisfaction from a great audience response to her first Musical. Billed as a female 'Full Monty' there were several outstanding performances and the show is superbly cast.
County Press, Entertainment Page, March 21, 2014
Rumpy Pumpy: a new musical on the IOW about the oldest trade in the world
Script writer Barbara Mackie & WI member Jean Johnson explain their inspiration.
BBC Radio Solent, 23 January 2014
Press
The comic and dramatic possibilities of the situation are immediately obvious: village hall meetings with crumpets at Dawn; prostitutes mingling with middle class older woman, shocking them with stories about the realities of their life; the visionaries in the Institute slowly converting their more staid colleagues; field trips where conversions to the cause are achieved; a meeting with the Minister. There is an excellent idea here and the score shows real potential. I look forward to its next run.
British Theatre
The remarkable true story of two genteel ladies from the Hampshire Women’s Institute who take it upon themselves to campaign for better conditions for working girls. Rumpy Pumpy! is a charming and very English comedy of manners, with a good social conscience at its heart. Its heart-warming plea for justice is impassioned.
Entertainment Focus