The Vote, Donmar Warehouse ****

Seeing Privacy last year was fantastic; an experience that felt innovative and special. This year, the creative team of Graham and Rourke, as well as some of the cast, have come back together to create something that is as experimental and extraordinary to watch in the run up to the election. Before the show, the audience are allowed to take part in the fictional vote before both writer and director came and explained what we were about to see. The performance I saw on Monday included material that won't be broadcast on Thursday due to ad breaks and also James Graham had written topical references that day which may change by Election Night. This, as well as a truly all star cast, made the whole experience feel magical. To name all 44 actors who all did wonderful turns as voters would be idiotic. However, of the voters, Rosalie Craig and Nicholas Burns as an upper class couple, Hadley Fraser as a drunk and Timothy West particularly stick out in the mind especially. There is a trio of actors that hold the piece together, providing continuity to such a dynamic production. Mark Gatiss, Catherine Tate and Nina Soshanya are each different yet all brilliant as the clerks. Gatiss and Soshanya provide subtlety to Tate's typically brash comedic style whilst that style (which usually gets on my nerves) is reigned in and focussed by Graham's sharp text. It is witty if not stupidly, laugh out loud funny, and shows a true and accurate picture of the state of our country. Politicians such as Paul Chahidi's independent MP is the funniest character in the play yet shows a man who cares for his community, unlike labour who just want to maximise votes in the hope of achieving a majority. And when her majesty Dame Judi Dench graces the stage, it tops off an almost flawless evening of theatre. I emplore anyone to catch this when it is broadcast.