The most disconcerting element of watching The 47th last autumn at the Old Vic, a satirical comedy on Trumpian politics, is that Bertie Carvel’s brilliant turn as Donald Trump left me disappointed. This was despite Carvel expertly capturing the former US president’s bizarre finger pointing, his other tics and inflections, and his billionaire presidential swagger. And he had Trump’s voice down perfectly.
It was simply that the real Trump is so much more creepily shocking in his actions and cartoonish appearances, with that sweep of orange hair, that no one can outperform this particular showman. The play, for those who have not seen it, centres on the 2024 US election and Trump’s return. Democracy is on the brink, chaos and cruelty rules, and then the storyline spirals into comic farce, with a military coup.
