The notices are in for Jeeves Takes Charge, the one-man Wodehouse anthology that Hugh Wooldridge first directed in 1980 and has now revived at the Charing Cross Theatre, with Sam Harrison playing all twenty-two characters across two hours. Twelve outlets have filed, and their ratings run the full width of the board, from five stars down to two. The one thing none of them disputes is Harrison: the stamina, the quick-change vocal work and the physical comedy are praised as warmly by the critics who disliked the evening as by those who loved it. Where they part company is the revival around him — whether Caite Hevner’s projection-driven set and Wooldridge’s fidelity to his own 1980 adaptation add up to a warm night of period comedy or a two-hour exercise in nostalgia that never quite argues for itself in 2026.
The verdict: twelve reviews in so far — one five-star notice, five four-star, two three-star and two two-star, with BroadwayWorld and southlondon.co.uk publishing no rating at all. Among the ten that do score it the average is 3.5 out of 5, and the spread is the whole board rather than a cluster. What every single critic agrees on, whatever they make of the play, is Sam Harrison.
What are critics saying about JEEVES TAKES CHARGE?
Theatre and Tonic
Reviewer: Stephen Gilchrist
“Wooldridge's direction of Harrison is a work of art, and Harrison himself is a force of nature, throwing himself around the stage and on and off the sofa, as he presents characters in conversation with each other and, on occasion, to reflect his own joy or despondency at unexpected turns of event. This is an award-winning performance.”
Theatre Weekly
“an astute and appealing adaptation”
Reviewer: Maggie O'Shea
“The task of bringing the words to life is undertaken largely by just one actor, the impressive Harrison, who is joined briefly by two supporting actors after the interval. Embodying not just the two iconic leads but a range of absurd side characters is no mean feat, but Harrison is fantastic. These farcical tales demand a physical, camp performance that he delivers in spades, throwing himself hither and thither and voicing only the plummiest of accents.”
LondonTheatre1
Reviewer: Terry Eastham
“There are some who may ask, would PG’s writing work with a modern audience? I have to say yes, it does. While not Shakespeare, there is something in the writing that is captivating and draws you into the words as soon as they start to fall from Harrison’s lips. The only problem I saw was overfamiliarity on the part of the audience. I, like so many J&W fans, have read the books, watched the Fry and Laurie TV series and listened to the Briers and Hordern BBC Radio series. So, we know what the characters should sound like. And for me, Sam Harrison’s Bertie wasn’t quite right. The other characters worked as they should but Bertie was a little too camp for my taste and didn’t sit right. But that’s just me.”
North West End UK
Reviewer: Charlotte Mansfield
“Sam Harrison as Bertie is expressive and dynamic, whether he’s hungover, cowering in front of an aunt, or bouncing around the room in cheerfulness. Harrison’s skills as a physical comedian mean that each character he portrays is distinctive, no matter how little time we spend with them. Bertie’s prim fiancée, an enthusiastic boy scout, a dragon of a headmistress and Bertie’s newt-obsessed friend, Gussie Finknottle, all kept the audience laughing as Bertie careened from one scrape to the next.”
Fairy Powered Productions
Reviewer: Phil Brown
“If I were to write a one line review, Jeeves Takes Charge is one of the most blissful marriages of richly humourous writing and uninhibited comic acting you are likely to see on the West End stage at any time. The marvellously dextrous Sam Harrison, playing Jeeves, Wooster, Gussie Fink-Nottle and a host of other characters (22 apparently), is on stage for the entire 1 hour 40 minutes and pulls off a stellar solo performance. It’s nothing less than a tour de force and a model of infectious light entertainment.”
London Born and Bred
Reviewer: Sarah
“At the centre of it all is Sam Harrison, who has the extraordinary task of playing all the roles. And what a task it is. Harrison moves between Jeeves, Bertie Wooster, the aunties, a schoolgirl, the fiancée Florence, a Boy Scout, a doddery uncle and a host of others with astonishing ease. This is not simply a question of putting on different voices, although the variety of vocal characterisation is impressive. It is in the physicality too: a change of posture, a turn of the head, a movement across the stage, and suddenly we are somewhere else with someone entirely different. Here is an actor very clearly working his craft, and enjoying every minute of it.”
West End Best Friend
Reviewer: Chris Abbott
“Thankfully, Sam Harrison is more than up to the challenge of playing more than twenty roles, and does so with style, understanding and remarkable physicality. His Bertie is perhaps camp rather than mannered, but always endearing. Wooster needs to have an essential innocence and vulnerability, which is at odds with any excess of campery. As Jeeves, Harrison is perhaps less convincing, and is rather a background character here despite featuring in the title. It’s still a remarkable tour-de-force by this clever actor.”
The Reviews Hub
“Bally Well Nonsense.”
Reviewer: Nick Wayne
“On the plus side, we can admire Harrison’s energy, physicality and vocal dexterity as he switches from one character to another, but the delivery is over the top, every reaction is exaggerated and lacks nuance and subtlety so that it becomes wearing and irritating. Not everyone in the audience feels that way, with some very loud guffawing and chortling at every line. It’s like hearing a prerecorded laugh track for a 1980s TV sitcom designed to point out all the lines that are meant to be funny.”
All That Dazzles
“An astonishing one-man performance from Sam Harrison cannot rescue an antiquated, repetitive revival that feels trapped in the past.”
Reviewer: Sam Woodward
“Jeeves Takes Charge ultimately becomes an unusual contradiction: an astonishing central performance trapped inside a relatively unsuccessful revival. These elements do not necessarily rise and fall together, and while getting a ticket to witness the remarkable work of Sam Harrison may be worthwhile, the play surrounding him does not live up to his artistic vigour. Devotees of Wodehouse may still find considerable pleasure in its nostalgia, linguistic gymnastics and Harrison's exceptional performance. Those looking for a revival that gives its century-old material a compelling reason to exist in 2026 may be left wondering why Jeeves has been summoned back into service.”
BroadwayWorld
Reviewer: Aliya Al-Hassan
“For all its engaging and thoughtful elements, this is, however, a production that outstays its welcome. One act would have been plenty to enjoy both Wodehouse's wonderful prose and Harrison's vibrant performance, but an interval and another act feel superfluous.”
Production photographs by Craig Fuller.
southlondon.co.uk
“Sam Harrison is unbelievable”
Reviewer: Melina Block
“As a one-man show, Sam Harrison is unbelievable. Halfway through I turned to my friend to express my sheer shock—and confusion—at how Harrison had managed to remember all these lines. Turns out she wanted to say the same thing. Well, if you want to see a show where the star is clearly dedicated to the performance? This is it. Switching seamlessly between characters, Harrison never falters or tires of his role. He brings the same energy to the opening scene as he does to the final lines before the curtain drops.”
Also reviewed by: The Stage, where Dave Fargnoli files three stars under the headline “Fun – if unfocused”, and whose review sits behind a paywall. Its rating is counted in the average above; its verdict is not quoted here because the body of the review cannot be read.
For more of what the critics have been saying around London this month, see our roundups of A Slow Fire at Jermyn Street Theatre and Anansi the Spider at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, and our first look at Sam Harrison in production.
Jeeves Takes Charge runs at the Charing Cross Theatre until Sunday 6 September 2026, before playing Mayflower Studios in Southampton from Tuesday 29 September to Saturday 3 October ahead of a UK tour in 2027.
