You can shortly choose whether to breakfast with Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe or British rugby sporting hero Jonny Wilkinson in new London plays that contain them in the title. But should you choose the latter—at South London’s Menier Chocolate Factory—be warned: the athelete may be a more enticing prospect, but he doesn’t actually show up in Breakfast with Jonny Wilkinson.

Instead, Chris England’s play is a neatly observed Ayckbournian comedy of rugby clubroom politics and priorities, set on the day of Jonny’s fateful match day encounter with the Australian opposition that virtually single-handedly helped to win Britain the rugby World Cup last year. And at the Menier, where the front room restaurant puts on a fine pre-show meal, the celebration begins with a menu that neatly puts Australian and U.K. choices against each other, too.

The result is a triumph for England, in nearly every sense. But England (the playwright as well as the country) goes for comic gold in this likeable, well-drawn play that’s more about the people than the game itself, and thus appealing to even those, like me, who aren’t into rugby.

Here it’s the play, not the game, that matters. As in Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads, Roy Williams’ resonant drama (which premiered at the National Theatre in 2002 and revived in 2004), which played out a real-time drama against the backdrop of a World Cup football qualifier being broadcast to a Southwest London pub, here the game is similarly a live accompaniment to the preoccupations of the group gathered to watch it.

Their number has been reduced, not just for reasons of theatrical economy, but because of a well-plotted sabotage to the efficiency of the club’s chairman, Dave (Norman Pace), who is facing a re-election challenge, to just seven. As well as Dave, these include his rival to the post, the team coach Matt (Michael Beckley), who—being Australian—is also on the other side in terms of his support for the match, too. Meanwhile, First XV captain Tony Bell’s wife may be about to give birth, but he won’t be deflected from watching the match, or the competing attractions of the Women’s XV captain (Beth Cordingly); and the team’s star player Jake (Kevin Wathen) may have some kind of role of his own in ensuring the national victory, though his unwitting shower-room seduction by Abi Tucker’s Lena ensures that his naked butt shot scores a victory all of its own. All of this is being diligently observed by a journalist (played by the playwright) who is writing a piece about the club for a newspaper.

Jonathan Lewis’ colourful production, unfolding in the bar, changing room and a rugby pitch outside on Anthony Lamble’s clever set design, scores another hit for the Menier, whose last production of Sunday in the Park with George transfers to the West End in May.

Breakfast with Jonny Wilkinson
By Chris England
Directed by Jonathan Lewis
Menier Chocolate Factory