REVIEWS - INNER LONDON - OTHER THEATRES (easily accessible by Public Transport)
(Churchill Theatre, Bromley)
(Richmond Theatre)
(The Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond)
(Croydon - Warehouse Theatre, Ashcroft Theatre, Fairfield Concert Hall)
(Hackney Empire - occasional)
(Greenwich Theatre & Greenwich Playhouse)
(The Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch)
(The New Wimbledon Theatre & Wimbledon Studio)
(Theatre Royal Stratford East)
(Stratford Circus)
FOR NEWS OF WHAT'S PLAYING AT THESE THEATRES - SEE "INNER LONDON NEWS" PAGE
CHURCHILL THEATRE
BROMLEY
BOX OFFICE: 020 8460 6677
OUR HOUSE
Book by Tim Firth.
Music and Lyrics by Madness.
Now playing at The Churchill Theatre, Bromley, until Saturday, July 19th, 2008.
I can honestly say when I saw the summer season shows that were coming up - way back in springtime - I was genuinely excited about this show coming to Bromley. I'm not quite sure why - I hadn't seen the show previously and the cast, with all due respect, didn't strike me as massive crowd pullers.
Not that cast's should - who or what do you go to see? The production...?...or the performers...? Lets leave that riddle for another day and concentrate on Our House. Do you remember the long hot summer of 1976? Well, (sorry for nicking this line from the Programme) but this was the first sign of Madness. The band was formed but several personnel changes took place over the first 3 years (Suggs even leaving & returning due to Chelsea FC when they were rubbish) and it wasn't until 1979 that the magnificent 7 settled down and started having success. "The Prince" was their 1st hit but they appealed to young and old and would go out of their way to accommodate their generations of fans with extra early shows....can you imagine bands doing that these days?
Whether you can knock up a musical around their hits is another matter although from what I saw the other night this company made a pretty good job of it. The show is set in Camden, London NW - the home of the band. That is the only link, except of course for the music. Joe Casey (played by Chris Carswell) is 16 and keen to get on in the world - his Mum and Dad are good people but don't have the best of luck. Steve Brookstein - original X Factor winner - plays Dad and Gwyneth Strong (Cassandra in Only Fools...) is Mum Kath. When Dad dies young, we still see him following his son, trying to make sure he stays on the straight and narrow. Echoes of other shows here of course, but when the story splits Joe in two to show both possible turnouts of his troubled life, we see the good and the bad and this certainly adds drama.
All the songs are cleverly linked to Joe's life - "My Girl", "Baggy Trousers", "Embarrassment", "Driving in My Car", "Los Palmas 7", "Tomorrow's Just Another Day", "Wings of a Dove" and "It Must Be Love" all help to compliment the story - London is changing at this time - property is coming down and going up everywhere. Joe has a few setbacks in both "lives" and the climax of one strand of his life is most dramatic, even tragic.
Strangely quiet at the start the show slowly builds to something very special following the interval. Choreographer Peter Darling supplies first class movement and spectacle - he practised with Billy Elliott apparently - and as you may know, the show is renowned for fast costume changes. One in particular will leave you speechless.
Amidst all this mayhem we have Finnish born Miria Parvin, who plays Sarah, Joe's girlfriend. Simply wonderful. The star of the show for me. Even with the lovely Sarah, I have to be honest and say this show didn't blow my socks off, although it is very well put together. Perhaps Chris Carswell reminded me too much of a young Shane Ritchie - or Steve Brookstein seemed too uninteresting as Joe's dead dad. Loose the coat, Steve! But for the spectacle of the second half, I think some may well come away wanting a bit more.
Looking for a Madness tribute show..? Forget it. Looking for a bittersweet love story with great music? Then Our House will be right up your street.
Reviews by Geoffrey Billingsley for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
RICHMOND THEATRE
The Green
Richmond, Surrey, TW9 1QJ
BOX OFFICE: 0870 060 6651
'Slapstix'
Now playing until Saturday 19 July.
The Richmond Theatre's website says that critics have described 'Slapstix' as "a crazy mix of Blue Man Group, Monty Python and Cirque de Soleil" which is a pretty good description of the show. Actually I believe one American critic substituted Benny Hill for Cirque du Soleil but one imagines that British PRs decided that the latter might appeal more to the modern British sensibility who have as yet failed to fully embrace a Benny Hill revival - in the USA he never went out of fashion. Actually it might be equally fair to describe 'Slapstix' as an entertaining combination of the best of Britain's Got Talent, those bits in the Paul Daniels' Magic Show where you'd have some strange foreign act on and that time Yvette Fielding from Blue Peter went to the Moscow State Circus.
The show begins promisingly as our cast of characters from the exotic to the freakish wander enigmatically around the stalls interacting with the audience. It's also refreshing to see that health and safety laws haven't got so strict that you can't have a man throwing Frisbee like plastic plates in to the audience (and having them more haphazardly thrown back to him!). The opening sets the tone for what will turn out to be a weird but fun evening. The performers and director Ben Lokey do well to create an engaging dreamscape; one or two characters give a nod to the traditions of Commedia dell'Arte but there's little of the tenuous plot that runs through a Cirque du Soleil show or the satire of the Blue Man Group. There really is no need for such ingredients as this show is first and foremost just a quite brilliant collection of circus acts.
It's unlikely that you won't have seen these acts or ones like them before but seeing them live and in the flesh (often quite literally!) is an enjoyable spectacle. There's a remarkable diversity of acts performed by this talented company of eleven - clowning, mime, masque work, contortion, sleight of hand, acrobatics, juggling, percussion and quite a few acts that I couldn't really put a name to and if I did it might spoil it for you. There's also burlesque that verges on the erotic. Indeed, as a company the cast are a very good advert for the aesthetic benefits of circus training - the women wouldn't look out of place at the forthcoming Olympics and I thought one of the male performers had a painted on "six pack" (à la the Spartans in '300.') - on closer inspection I don't think there was any need for such artistic enhancement.
It's not just for show either. If you've ever performed the exercise known as the 'Turkish get-up' down the gym you'll know it's pretty tricky with a 10kg weight. Just imagine trying to do the same exercise with a 90kg man instead; and don't even try to imagine balancing that same man on your head….by his head! The evening ends as joyously as it begins with confetti and balloons of Brobdingnagian proportions being projected in the auditorium. Despite the simplicity of this show the audience seemed to really enjoy it and I imagine all but those with a real hatred for the circus will do also.
Reviews by Adrian Fear for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
THE ORANGE TREE THEATRE
1 Clarence Street,
Richmond,
Surrey TW9 2SA
(Richmond Station is virtually across the street)
BOX OFFICE 020 8940 3633
Reviews by Adrian Fear for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
GREENWICH THEATRE
Crooms Hill, London SE10
(Greenwich B.R. Station - 10 mins. from Charing Cross - 5 minutes walk to theatre)
BOX OFFICE: (020) 8858 7755
Reviews by Brigid Rennell for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
The Galleon Theatre Company Ltd
GREENWICH PLAYHOUSE
Greenwich Station Forecourt
189 Greenwich High Road
London SE10, 8JA
Telephone: 020 8858 9256
E-Mail: BoxOffice@Galleontheatre.co.uk
Reviews by Brigid Rennell for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
THE QUEEN’S THEATRE,
HORNCHURCH ESSEX
(easily reached on the District Line)
contact Box Office for performance dates and times: 01708 443333
Reviews by Anne Morley-Priestman for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
THE NEW WIMBLEDON THEATRE
The Broadway, London SW19 1QG
BOX OFFICE: 0870 060 6646
DEDICATED VENUE REVIEWER REQUIRED - Please contact Editor - address : GPowner@aol.com
MAIN HOUSE
STUDIO
THE WAREHOUSE THEATRE
WarehouseTheatre, Dingwall Road, Croydon,CR0 2NF
For more information or to book tickets, call the Box Office on (020) 8680 4060.
or visit the theatre website at www.warehousetheatre.co.uk
Fax: 020 8688 6699 E-mail: info@warehousetheatre.co.uk
REVIEWER NEEDED TO COVER THIS VENUE ON A REGULAR BASIS - please contact the Editor by e-mail: GPowner@aol.com
THEATRE ROYAL, STRATFORD EAST
Gerry Raffles Square
London
E15 1BN
Box Office: 020 8534 0310
www.stratfordeast.com
Reviews by Julia Hickman for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
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