The Return of the Original Essex Girls

They were last seen in 1998 after a nine year run on the BBC. Back then sisters Sharon, played by Pauline Quirk and Tracey, played by Linda Robson, bickered their lives away after their husbands were sent to prison after commiting an armed robbery. Loud mouthed Sharon lived in a council flat in Edmonton but soon moved into her sister’s luxury home in Chigwell. The sister’s neighbour was the man-eating Dorien, played by Lesley Joseph. Dorien, although married to the rarely seen Marcus, was always getting involved with other men.

The most regular writers for the sitcom Gary Lawson, John Phelps, Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran have written this new tale of the girl’s lives in 2012. Sharon and Tracey still live together in Tracey’s home with Travis, Tracey’s stroppy teenage son, played by Pauline Quirks son Charlie. Sharon has just lost her job at Lidl and Tracey is suffering from Agoraphobia. They receive a summons from their old neighbour Dorien to come to a retirement home. They assume she now lives there but after travelling to the home with Tracey wearing a bag over her head they discover she is running it. Sharon and Tracey start to work at the home and that’s when things start to go wrong.

A full theatre gave a round of applause as Pauline Quirk, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph came on stage into the familiar surroundings of Tracey’s living room. Joke after joke followed and their comic timing was perfect, knowing when to pause for the audience laughter. They even managed a karaoke performance with Sharon and Tracey singing Queen’s hit ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ to the residents of the home. The three girls seemed to be enjoying the play as much as the audience at one stage all three were laughing at one of their lines.

It was a fun evening catching up with these three old Essex girls.

Birds of a Feather runs at the Theatre Royal in Bath until Saturday April 14.