★★★★★

Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was every bit the man her husband was.

Tireless, robust and insomniac (in her own words) she crusaded for women’s rights, human rights and the motivation of “her boys” – the American soldiers who fought in two world wars.

But if Mrs Roosevelt was inspiring, writer and actress Alison Skilbeck was sensational in playing her.

Like Eleanor herself, Alison Skilbeck was a one-woman show; dramatic, powerful, independent and very funny.

Her play was a gallop through Eleanor’s political campaigns, troubled marriage, mothers-in-law, Winston Churchill and the British Royal Family.

This eventful history gave Skilbeck, RADA teacher and regular television actress, every opportunity to display a riot of mimicry and hilarious impersonation.

With minimal props – a feathered hat and a fur coat collar – she became Queen Mary one minute and a Landgirl driving a tractor the next.

Yet behind the fun and games lay a moving portrayal of genuine and practical compassion for which Eleanor was elected chairwoman of the embryonic UN in 1946. Skilbeck won a Best Female Performance nomination for her astounding drama. Two amazing women, one spectacular play.