Cocktails with Joyce Grenfell

Nicola Keen brings Cocktails with Joyce Grenfell to the Jim Marshall Auditorium on Tuesday 18 May 2027. It's a musical tribute to Joyce Grenfell, one of Britain's most beloved entertainers, whose wit, warmth and elegance of 1940s and 1950s Britain are brought to life through her comedy songs and razor-sharp monologues.

The show works its way through her favourites, including Stately as a Galleon and School Nativity Play, alongside classic comic gems from Flanders & Swann and Noël Coward. Keen's portrayal of Grenfell has been called 'celebrated', and she's joined on stage by Malcolm McKee. The production is put on by The Stables as part of IF: Milton Keynes International Festival.

Grenfell was known for her character sketches and her particular brand of mid-century British comedy, and that's what the evening centres on: the songs and the monologues that made her. If you're familiar with her work, you'll recognise the titles; if not, it's a good place to start with the songs that defined her. The addition of Flanders & Swann and Noël Coward puts her in the company of the other great comic songwriters of the era, so the whole thing sits firmly in that particular tradition of British musical comedy.

It runs at 8:00pm, with doors open from 7:30pm, and tickets are £27.50 including the booking fee. The show is produced by The Stables as part of IF: Milton Keynes International Festival.