Having enjoyed Romeo and Juliet in May 2021, I  returned to York Theatre Royal along with Mrs Hatter to see the Scottish play brought to life by The Handlebards, and on Burns Night no less…

Which witch is which? 

It quickly became clear that this is more of the same farcical fun and fourth-wall breaking we’ve come to expect from the team. The all-female cast of three versatile performers switch effortlessly between costumes, roles and accents. A ramshackle frame creates an on-stage backstage area where hats and props fly in a whirlwind of quick changes. Credit too must go on the crew!

Kathryn Perkins takes on the title role of Macbeth, with Natalie Simone and Jenny Smith becoming a myriad of other characters big and small. Whether playing cackling witches, apparitions, nobility, the sultry Lady Macbeth or Macduff’s son (brilliantly done, I won’t spoil it) the transitions come thick and fast. It’s remarkable to think that the cast do so much with so little, and that it all has to pack down to be transported by neither vans nor lorries…

Bells and Whistles 

The Handlebards, you see, travel around the country on – you guessed it – bicycles! The company take Shakespeare on the road and perform at festivals as well as theatres. This eco-approach is refreshing, and even the teatowels the cast sell at the end are ethically made. 

The cycling theme continues into the show, with all manner of bicycle-based props. Handlebars (naturally), helmets, bells, pumps, reflectors, tyres…it’s fair to say The Handlebards are single-handedly keeping Halfords (or a locally-sourced alternative) in business! 

The backdrops are cleverly changed by pedal-power too. Compared to big shows with luxurious backcloths and intricate moving set-pieces, the cast demonstrate here that sometimes less is more. 

That’s a rap 

Highlights for us included a witches rap, some daftly dramatic deaths and an unexpected reference to Roger Moore. The crown of reflectors was also inspired…on reflection!

Is it a family show? I think most children will struggle to follow the story as it is largely told in the original Shakespearean verse, however there’s a handy synopsis in the programme. I have to confess I lost the plot at points, but that was down to my own gaps in knowledge of the Bard’s work, and no reflection on the cast. As Mrs Hatter said, the storytelling is so visual that you don’t necessarily need to know the story to enjoy this loose retelling. 

The theme of murder makes it one of the darker tales, but it’s performed here in such a silly and farcical way that it’s never scary. Farting deaths, interrupting instruments and random bursts of Riverdance keep the play playful! At points, the action borders on clowning and there are plenty of asides and nods to the audience. 

Page to Stage

No doubt school children up and down the country still bemoan the fact that Shakespeare is taught in schools, but when it’s presented by The Handlebards you could never say it’s dry or boring. The cast bring the story to life with slick costume changes, physical comedy, live music and theatrical magic. Director Emma Sampson has developed a fast-paced, fun and energetic show with some delightfully wyrd (spelling intentional!) moments.

My only minor niggle is that at points I strained to hear, and was only sat on the second row of the Dress Circle. I think this is due to the absence of headset microphones – relying on floor mics instead (presumably as the show is so physical, with plenty of knockabout action and tumbles) Unavoidable perhaps, but some of the dialogue was lost.

In truth, I enjoyed Romeo and Juliet more, but I think this is largely because I’m more familiar with the original tale. Macbeth is still wheely good (sorry, not sorry!) and I can’t wait to see what The Handlebards do with Twelfth Night.

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The Handlebards are currently touring the UK. Tickets start at £15 and can be booked online at www.handlebards.com

Disclaimer: Tickets were kindly provided for this performance, however all opinions are honest and are our own.

At least Dick Turpin wore a mask…

…in fact, we all did! Audiences have had to adapt to the new regulations and the theatre manage this well. The Grand Opera House lives up to it’s name, and I’ve always felt it’s a great setting for a pantomime. Everything twinkles and sparkles, seats are comfortable and staff are welcoming – making jokes and small-talk whilst going through the rigorous Covid passport and bag checks.

This is the first time that Berwick and friends have graced the Opera House stage, with Crossroads Pantomimes pulling the reigns. Find out what we thought below…

In with the old

With a new company at a new venue, this reviewer wondered if the production would return with some fresh and interesting innovations. It quickly became clear though that this is the same old panto fodder that audiences have come to expect from Berwick and the gang.

References to things like Elaine Page, Dolly Parton, Fawlty Towers, Shakespeare, old Westerns and musical hall all date the show – and we felt there weren’t enough modern and current references to keep it fresh. Song choices were mostly stuck in yesteryear too, with the exception of the Billy of Tea sea shanty that found fame via TikTok earlier this year.

Overall, it felt like a production aimed at the adults who have followed Berwick over forty years, and not necessarily the families with young children looking for some festive pantomime fun.

Dame for a Laugh?

Kaler returns as Dame Dotty Donut although, disappointingly, without a donut-inspired dress – surely a missed opportunity. At 75-years-old, Berwick has come out of retirement and it is commendable that he is still able to write, direct and deliver so many performances. Whilst it was clear he had many fans in, the script wasn’t always punchy enough and the first act in particular took a while to get going.

Martin Barrass as Dunkin Donut remains playful, but doesn’t seem to get a lot of time to shine. Suzy Cooper’s flapping vampire bat is a joy and she plays Donna Donut with plenty of panto panache.

AJ Powell’s Luvlie Limpit enjoys some luvverly byplay, especially alongside David Leonard who is still a stand-out panto villain. Even with a few unfortunate technical problems he relishes the evil laugh and ensuing boos! I’d have to like to have seen him used more, and with a grander entrance as in previous years.

The title role of Dick Turpin (Daniel Conway), who is conspicuously absent from the posters as my son pointed out, takes the notorious highwayman to Adam Ant levels. A Horrible Histories song injects a few facts into the proceedings and of course there are the predictable dick jokes.

The ensemble work hard to keep the show pacey but, ultimately, it often loses momentum in between. Even the baking routine, which is something I’ve seen The Chuckle Brothers do fifteen years ago, felt laboured.

I can’t fault the overall design of the show, with sumptuous sets and costumes helping create some panto magic. Local references pop up on backcloths and signs, and scenery takes the audience everywhere from the London Palladium to the Wild West and Selby Common.

The musical direction is slick, even though I was hoping for some more up-to-date song choices.

Horsing around

The Twins FX provide a wonderful flying sequence, cleverly lit to hide the workings. This was the one moment that children really seemed to respond to in unison, and it felt like the only thing we hadn’t seen before from the team.

When the highlight is a flying stuffed donkey though, something seems amiss in pantoland. Berwick himself describes it as ‘the same old rubbish’ and therein lies the problem. This is a production that refuses to move with the times.

The plot, as they openly admit, is practically non-existent and left many young audience members around me looking bemused. Quirky and surreal moments are all well and good, but they don’t always hit the mark.

Paint your Wagon (Wheel)

If you’re a long-serving follower of Berwick and co. there may well still be enough to keep you coming back. Wagon Wheels return, along with the rocking chair and the odd reference to Newcastle Brown Ale. Missing though are the video sequence, Harry Gration, UV puppets and a messy slosh routine. Even the frocks seem less outrageous this year, at a time when I think we’re all hungry for a little extra razzle dazzle.

A few jokes fell flat, and running gags – including a fish-hungry crocodile – didn’t seem to really go anywhere. That’s not to say we didn’t enjoy the show at all; the design is solid, the cast work hard and there are a few moments of brilliance (the disguises that Dame Donut and Dunkin Donut wear as babbies are a treat!)

I mentioned in another review that we didn’t grow up with Berwick’s pantos and so always felt a little like outsiders on a private joke. I can imagine though, if you’ve been coming for years and it’s a tradition, then wild (pantomime) horses wouldn’t keep you away.

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Dick Turpin Rides Again runs at the Grand Opera House York until Sunday 9th January 2022. To book tickets visit www.atgtickets.com/shows/dick-turpin-rides-again/grand-opera-house-york/

Disclaimer: Tickets were kindly provided for this performance, however all opinions are honest and are our own.

The Hatters love a panto (oh yes we do, etc etc…sorry, it’s a given in a panto review!) and very much missed our annual visits in 2020. We were all very excited to see Cinderella last night at York Theatre Royal, produced by Evolution Productions for the first time.

Also for the first time, the show features a celebrity from the telly! CBeebies favourite Andy Day plays Dandini, and arrives to a resounding cheer. Instantly likeable, his rapport with the audience works wonders. Gags fly thick and fast, and his singing voice is great and used well throughout. I was expecting the odd dinosaur reference though (I half-expected dinosaurs to replace ghosts in the classic spooky forest routine actually!)

Max Fulham plays Buttons, and this is one of many smart casting choices by Evolution. It’s clear to see why Max won Best Speciality Act in 2020 – he really is the ultimate Buttons, with the right balance of naivety and daftness!

His ventriloquism skills, which he has honed to perfection, are the icing on the (Christmas) cake, whether it’s his loveable and cheeky monkey Gordon or talking props on the set. We very much hope he returns in 2022, and would make a great Smee!

There’s nothing like a dame, and in Cinders you get two for the price of one! Robin Simpson and Paul Hayward play the Ugly Sisters Manky and Mardy, admitting straight away they’re men dressed as women (one of many modern twists on the usual panto fodder) As baddies, they somehow manage to be both bad and likeable – no small feat!

Fabulous frocks, snappy put-downs, and plenty of audience interaction – our eldest mini Hatter loved shouting back, and they relished the banter!

Elsewhere, a funky and down-to-earth fairy (Sarah Lafayette) keeps the plot pacey with rhyming couplets, and does a commendable job with her foot in a cast. Maybe a ‘break a leg’ gag wouldn’t be inappropriate in the script as it wasn’t referenced, but it certainly looked the part with glittery trim!

Faye Campbell’s Cinderella is likeable and takes no nonsense (not needing a man to validate her!), Benjamin Lafayette’s Prince Charming is suitably…well…charming, and the dancers and singers all ooze energy and enthusiasm. Special mention must go to the beautiful, and unexpected, aerial silk act.

In fact, there were many unexpected moments…yes this is traditional panto but has plenty of twists and turns too. Even setting the forest scene at a Winter Fair (complete with strongman, stalls and sideshows) was an inspired choice!

It’s refreshing here that no single cast member steals the show or hogs the spotlight. Instead, this is a balanced cast that works really well as an ensemble.

If The Shoe Fits

With the big panto debacle of 2019, comparisons to previous years are inevitable. To be honest though, we’ve never been part of the Berwick brigade. We didn’t grow up hollering ‘babbies and bairns’ and trying to catch Wagon Wheels, and when we came to the shows as latecomers we felt like outsiders and didn’t enjoy them. Many of the in-jokes went over our heads, and in general it felt aimed squarely at the adults, rather than having a true family focus as panto should.

It felt like time for a change, and we applaud the Theatre Royal for trying something new. Boy did it pay off too, Cinderella was far better than any panto we’ve seen at the Theatre Royal previously. Not only that, we’ve seen and reviewed countless pantos up and down the country – and this is actually one of the best we’ve seen full stop!

Flying High

This is a slick and polished production packed with sumptuous sets, gorgeous costumes and flashy special effects. Our only niggle was with the flying horse and carriage at the end of the first act. Unfortunately the lack of fog meant that, as it turned a corner, the mechanism was plain to see which spoiled what could’ve been a wondrous moment. It might’ve been a technical blip though, and we’re only early in the panto run.

There were many highlights including punchy and original songs, gags I genuinely haven’t heard (and I do a lot of jokes in my own shows!) and a fantastic Disney characters routine which I won’t spoil! Our two mini Hatters (aged 5 and 8) loved it too, plenty of giggles and a plot they could actually follow and enjoy – rooting for the main characters, and the baddies to get their comeuppance!

We all know Christmas can be an expensive time, so does Cinderella offer good value? Tickets range from £15 to £42 per person, which is in-line with other full-scale pantomimes. Given the draw of Andy Day, the high production values throughout and top notch cast and crew, we feel the ticket price is justified for a festive treat.

A breath of fresh air, packed with family fun and laughter. In short, we had a ball!

We can’t wait to see how Evolution work their magic on The New Adventures of Peter Pan in 2022. Tickets now on sale!

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Cinderella runs until Sunday 2nd January, and tickets can be booked via the York Theatre Royal website

Disclaimer: Tickets were kindly provided for this performance, however all opinions are honest and are our own.

Birmingham Stage Company are back at The Grand Opera House York with their latest Horrible Histories production, Barmy Britain! Unfortunately I couldn’t make this performance, but I’ve seen many of Birmingham Stage’s Roald Dahl adaptations and always enjoyed the company’s work – slick and polished children’s theatre with plenty of interaction!

In my absence, Mrs Hatter and the boys put on their review hats and went to York for a night of historical hilarity. Find out what they thought below!

History’s Mysteries

With a cast of just two performers, the audience is taken through Britain’s Barmy history with lots of gags, jokes, songs and silly skits. In this 1 hour 30 minute show, the terrible timeline stopped at Boudicca, Richard the Lionheart, Tudors, the Victorians, Dick Turpin, Guy Fawkes and many more. The latter few gave it a distinctly ‘York’ flavour, a local history lesson brought to life in the best possible way!

Another Dimension

The show is advertised as featuring BoggleVision 3D technology, often used in pantomimes and in previous Horrible Histories productions. Donning a pair of 3D glasses in the second act, this is your classic ‘things coming towards you’ special effect which the audience went wild for. The use of mixed media shows just how well Birmingham Stage innovate, I’ve always been impressed with their ideas and noticed that they even have a show on board a boat in London, Terrible Thames

Having a Blast!

There were many laugh-out-loud moments, and both Hatter boys loved the silly humour and slapstick! We’re all big fans of the popular CBBC series, and Birmingham Stage have done a great job of translating that humour to the stage, whilst also putting their own spin on it.

Favourite bits? A highlight for our eldest was a silly moment in which Henry VIII kept trying to kiss Anne Boleyn, who replied ‘Ah ah ah, social distancing!’ – a stark reminder of just how barmy Britain has been recently! He loved it when Richard the Lionheart repeatedly got the noises wrong when trying to roar too. Our youngest loved the 3D special effects, especially the bats. Both boys loved the toilet humour and fart noises, as expected!

There was one story in the second half which scared the boys (aged five and eight) a little – the tale of Burke and Hare murdering people in their beds. In an altogether light and funny show, this was presented in a much darker way and seemed to jar with the rest of the production. This aside though, the Hatters loved the show and lapped up the madcap comedy and gruesome facts.

And the rest, as they say, is history!

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Horrible Histories is showing at The Grand Opera House York until October 24th, then touring throughout the UK. For venue information and tickets visit www.barmybritain.com

Disclaimer: Tickets were kindly provided for this performance, however all opinions are honest and are our own.

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It’ll be all Wrong on the Night

I appreciate that theatre companies have had a long break from live shows, but last night’s performance was a disaster. Props broke, the set was a deathtrap, actors couldn’t remember their lines…everything that could go wrong, went wrong. But that is of course entirely the point! 

The blurb reads, “The accident-prone thespians battle against all odds to make it through to their final curtain call, with hilarious consequences!” but what did we think? Find out below!

Wrong on so Many Levels

Themed around a 1920s murder mystery by The Cornley Drama Society, the play takes place in a grand house over several levels. The clever set design hides a myriad of traps and special effects, but to go into specifics would spoil the surprise. Let’s just say that if the fictional theatre company was real, they wouldn’t pass even a basic risk assessment.

Using the set over multiple floors, the actors are adept at feigning injury, prat falls, slips and trips, and there were many gasps and ‘oohs’ throughout. 

Wrongdoers

The cast are full of energy and enthusiasm, and their comic timing is impeccable. For a play full of mistakes, there are moments that show just how in-tune with each other they really are – even seemingly simple things like catching a prop thrown from a long distance. Comparisons to the original team are perhaps inevitable, and yes there are similarities – particularly in Leonard Cook’s husky-voiced Robert (playing Thomas Colleymoore) – but each actor also makes the role their own.

Like a well-oiled theatrical machine, the performers bounce off each other and clearly relish being back on stage. On a minor technical note, we were only in the third row of the Dress Circle but we strained to hear at points. This may be that the performers couldn’t have individual microphones due to the physical nature of the show, water being thrown and so on, but the floor mics didn’t seem to pick everything up.

I can only imagine how busy the unseen crew must’ve been behind-the-scenes triggering all the effects. To overthink how a lot of it was done would be like spoiling a great magic trick! Speaking of spoilers, again there are many specific moments I would love to talk about here, but I don’t want to give the game away. I will say though that even the simple act of taking a phone call is a tall order.

Some sequences are absurd, and reminded me of classic clowning and even Laurel and Hardy or Chaplin, and the farce often echoes vaudevillian theatre.

Righting the Wrongs

Our experience of the show was slightly jaded, simply by the fact that we’ve seen a lot ‘go wrong’. We’re big fans and have  watched all the television specials, the series and the Royal Variety performances. And just last week we saw another theatre company adopt a similar premise in which, you guessed it, things went wrong. Whilst it was great to see the Goes Wrong team live on stage, many of the gags rely on the element of surprise and we had seen them before so often saw them coming. 

This is no fault of the fantastic the cast and crew though, but it was a show I wish I could have seen through fresh eyes! If it’s your first time, I can appreciate that it would be a groundbreaking one-of-a-kind experience. What I would suggest is that, if you haven’t seen the TV series yet, try and catch the stage show first – because of course it is so much better live! Put simply, The Play That Goes Wrong get things wrong, and does it so very right. 

It is easy to see why the company have had television work, extensive tours, West End and Broadway runs and won many awards. The Play that Goes Wrong is a riot of farcical fun, packed with slapstick, wordplay and inventive ideas! My hat goes off to The Mischief Theatre Company for making ‘wrong’ look so effortless and slick, when in reality it is easy to do wrong…well, wrong!

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To find out where The Play that Goes Wrong is touring, and check out other shows from the team visit www.mischiefcomedy.com

Disclaimer: Tickets were kindly provided for this performance, however all opinions are honest and are our own.

The Hatter’s set sail by hot air balloon (no, not really – there isn’t even one in the book, as I learned today!) to see York Theatre Royal’s summer show about a globetrotting eccentric’s worldly wager…

Gone for now are the plush seats of the Theatre Royal in favour of the grassy fields of four primary schools around York. This suits the idea of a touring circus as a theme, and the school was well equipped with things like toilets and plenty of space for everyone to see.

On a logistical note, we don’t know Copmanthorpe well so struggled to find the school when the postcode took us elsewhere, and the school itself wasn’t signposted. We still arrived in plenty of time though!

School of Thought

On entering the school field, we saw a wooden set bedecked in red and yellow and complete with the trappings of a circus – including a cannon, trampoline and various colourful platforms and stands. As the show went on, the set was used in all manner of inventive ways.

Visually, two of our favourite moments were the creation of the steamer, and a teetering seesaw during a gin-guzzling scene. The transition from country to country is done simply, but very effectively too!

The design throughout is stunning. The costumes are richly detailed and all look the part, simultaneously capturing the essence of circus and the 1800s. Oh and the elephant is a treat, but I won’t spoil the theatrical magic!

A Motley Crew

Five performers band together as a troupe of circus performers to tell the classic Jules Verne tale. Each actor is full of energy, and they flit between characters (and sometimes genders!) with ease. 

Emilio Iannucci plays Phileas Fogg, and swaggers about as an eccentric ringmaster on his mission to circumnavigate the globe. Ali Azhar’s Passepartout is a Parisian clown who adds extra comic relief throughout. He clearly relishes playing alongside Phileas as the straight man, and Detective Fix (Eddie Mann) as the dramatic conflict. Mann plays the role with a slight menace, but never wanders into panto baddie territory.

Ulrika Krishnamurti plays Aouda not just as a damsel in distress, but as a feisty female role that can hold her own. Dora Rubinstein plays a whole host of characters, with a strong physicality and a flair for accents. Her ship’s Captain from Hull is a delight! It was interesting too to hear the story of Nellie Bly alongside the main plot. 

The whole cast are skilled in circus tricks, from juggling with balls, knives and fire to slapstick, poi, hoops and even contortion. As an ensemble they all work well together, and I especially enjoyed moments when they interacted with the audience. I was hoping for a rousing song to close the show though, in celebration of Fogg‘s accomplishment. 

Flagging it Up 

With some low sound levels, microphones cutting in and out and the windy rustle of twenty or so flags, it was difficult to focus on the action at points, even sat near the front. Such are the perils of outdoor theatre in the British summertime though, and the cast managed admirably as playing cards flew about and ribbons became tangled. On the plus side however, the wind enhanced some of the stormier scenes at sea – with realistic effects provided by Mother Nature!

The rain held off thankfully (yes, the show does go on in wet weather) and the novelty of outdoor touring theatre made a few technical hiccups excusable. A top tip too is to bring camping chairs; two hours and ten minutes is a fairly long time to sit out on the grass! 

Brave New World

Touring theatre is a new direction for York Theatre Royal, and follows The Travelling Panto last December that visited every ward in York. This is a personal preference but I feel that, overall, the production will be more enjoyable when it ends the run back at the theatre.

Having seen indoor summer shows such as Swallows and Amazons, this seemed more immersive on stage, largely down to being able to control the performing conditions more easily I imagine. Indoors it will benefit from better acoustics and theatrical lighting too. Saying that, touring open-air theatre makes a refreshing change and I applaud the theatre for continuing to get out into the communities.

The suggested age for the show is seven and up, and I would certainly say that our five-year-old became restless at points. He loved the circus sequence in the second act though, and being sniffed and observed under a magnifying glass by the quirky Detective Fix! Our seven-year-old fared better generally and really enjoyed the action-packed story and colourful characters. 

Inventive storytelling, slick circus skills and a timeless tale told with bundles of energy. So roll up, roll up to book for some family fun this summer!

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Around The World in 80 Days tours Archbishop Holgate’s School next then Joseph Rowntree, before a run at the Main House from August 25th. Tickets start from £15 and can be booked on the Theatre Royal website

Disclaimer: Tickets were kindly provided for this performance, however all opinions are honest and are our own.

There can’t be many families that don’t have at least one Julia Donaldson book on their shelves, I know that we certainly have most of them! Through engaging storytelling, relatable characters and the wonderful illustrations by Axel Scheffler, they’ve become classics loved by many.

Like Zog, The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and many others, The Snail and the Whale has been adapted for the stage and is currently touring the UK. Founded in 1997, Tall Stories have brought the story to life, and we went to see it with our two boys aged four and seven.

We’re big fans of the book and animated adaptation here at the Hatter household, and I wondered how the team would develop the short story into a full production. Beyond the original narrative, the show focuses on a dad going off to sea, and the relationship with his daughter at home. The plot jumps between the joy of being able to play together at home, and video calls from overseas that helped moved the action along.

We had seen other Julia Donaldson adaptations which had only focused on the main story as written, so it was interesting to see this story told through the lens of another. It worked well, and led to some moments that really tugged on the heartstrings, including an unexpectedly poignant ending.

Fiddler on the Stage

A talented cast of three performers tell the tale through play, song and gentle comedy. The action is underscored with a violin throughout, used for music but also lots of clever sound effects and incidental moments. Seagulls, whale calls and the Skype music were particular highlights! This use of live music really helped to lift the show and draw the audience in.

Each performer knew how to connect with the young audience, and children will relate to all the childhood games, silliness and the desperation for a later bedtime!

Whale of a Time

The staging was particularly inventive; I won’t spoil how the whale took shape but let’s just say it was a clever surprise. The parts of the whale also became other things; from a bed and cave to the base of a volcano. In the girl’s bedroom, a round window became a porthole, message board and a screen for some shark shadow-play a la Jaws! This reminded me of the way that the children play imaginatively, turning everyday objects into wondrous things to explore new and exciting worlds.

Snails took the form of soft toys and wooden ornaments, accompanied with a satisfying squelch on the violin!

A Snail’s Pace

Generally, the show had a gentle pace which was ideal for younger audience members. That isn’t to say it was ever boring or dull, but rather that it felt crafted to develop slowly. There were occasional high-energy moments though, including a brilliant penguin sequence which involved the whole audience. A game of hide-and-seek between the girl and her dad had the children screaming and shouting.

Later, an interactive classroom scene encouraged children to shout out the answers too, which they enthusiastically did! Kids being kids, they would also call out at other less interactive points – and it was refreshing to see the actors still acknowledge them and thank them for the input.

At points there were songs to join in with, but it felt like there was some uncertainty about whether we could sing after all this time. For so long, we have been told we cannot sing at concerts and performances, and I was unsure of the current stance on this. On that note, the experience generally felt Covid-safe with masks required, track and trace details and temperatures taken and audiences still sat in separate bubbles.

At just under an hour, the running time was ideal for even the youngest audience members. At our 4.30pm performance, there were many toddlers and only the occasional moments of restlessness.

Our four-year-old was transfixed, and our seven-year-old didn’t seem too old for it but didn’t join in quite as readily. A moment of toilet-humour relating to ripped trousers and an exposed bottom (suggested, obviously not seen) was a highlight for our eldest!

Tall Stories have taken a simple, short and endearing tale and turned it into a heartwarming and enjoyable show to delight young fans. With tickets from £13.50, it’s not too much to ‘shell’ out on!

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Visit the Tall Stories website at www.tallstories.org.uk to check tour dates for The Snail and the Whale, and details of their other productions.

Disclaimer: Tickets were kindly provided for this performance, however all opinions are honest and are our own.

Myself and Mrs Hatter took another welcome return to live theatre, to review Showstopper! – an improvised comedy musical theatre show which first started in 2008.

Alan Meggido and Dylan Emery have created an innovative production that changes every single night. Billed as no two shows ever being the same, unpredictability is key! Starting at the Edinburgh Fringe, the show has toured much of the UK and had a successful West End run, even winning an Olivier Award.

In for a Tweet

Apparently creating a new musical at short notice for Mr Cameron (Mackintosh, not David), the cast have around seventy minutes to create a coherent story with ballads, raps and showtunes along the way.

As with all live entertainment, the Showstopper! team have had to adapt to the Covid climate. Where once the audience would shout out suggestions, technology now replaces the hoots and hollers. We were encouraged to text in our ideas or tweet them before and during the performance, with a shortlist of ideas put forward for approval through applause. This worked well, although I can imagine it creates a different atmosphere having audience members able to shout out the silly, strange and surreal suggestions. I miss the buzz of truly interactive live theatre but understand the need to, well, improvise in the circumstances.

We were keen to get involved and suggested words and ideas throughout. In an email before arriving at the theatre, we were encouraged to send in any ideas we had. However, on arrival it became clear that only very specific themes were needed – namely a setting and a musical style or composer. From the suggestions put forward from the audience, our show featured a distinctly local flavour and was based at Betty’s tearoom. References to York Dungeon, the Minster and other local hotspots were real crowd-pleasers.

Red is the New Black

A smart but simplistic set helped the audience focus on the action, and the cast looked sharp in their black and red ensembles…

The performance ran like a well-oiled machine, and the laughs came thick and fast. Some previous runs have featured celebrity guests including Matt Lucas and Jim Bowen (of Bullseye fame!) No such cameos here, but the show didn’t suffer without them. The performers we saw all exude energy and have that razor-sharp wit and timing that makes for a frantically fun evening. Vocals don’t take a backseat either; every cast member could sing well and showed a range of styles.

Sticky Buns

On this blog I mainly review family attractions and shows. Showstopper! has won awards for best entertainment and best family show, although I wasn’t sure initially how suitable it would be for younger children. As we arrived at the theatre, a song was playing that regularly mentioned intercourse (presumably a word from the audience at a previous show) During the performance the cast sang I Want to do You!, spoke of sex in a York Dungeon cell, and there were more cake-themed innuendos than an episode of Bake-Off.

For this reason, I would advise caution with younger children – by it’s very nature the show is devised based on suggestions from the audience, and could go in any direction! Interestingly, the team do also have a children’s show, The Showstoppers’ Kids Show. We haven’t seen it but it is no doubt more suitable for younger family members.

Edit – I’ve since seen that the show is recommended for ages 12 and over which seems right for the possible themes and content. The ‘best family show’ award may well have been the Kids Show but I can’t find any further details on that.

Freshly Baked?

If I’m being critical, we both felt that certain parts of the show seemed more manufactured than expected. Again, only two key areas of suggestions were actually invited – plus a title for the show – with the rest of the content shaped around those. It would be a tall order to fully improvise a musical from scratch, and we weren’t expecting that, but it felt like parts of the show were pre-planned and only took in a few very specific ideas and themes. The songs were snappy and well put together, but perhaps suffered from being too polished to actually seem genuinely improvised. I hope that we’re wrong though, and that the performers just excel at quick thinking!

Musical choices felt like safe bets too; with Hamilton and The Greatest Showman for example being popular but obvious. Yes, these apparently came from suggestions but I would’ve liked to see some more obscure and unusual words and ideas used. I can only compare this to improvised non-musical shows I’ve seen at comedy clubs, where comedians and actors can literally take any word or idea and craft it into a sketch, with the more surreal ideas getting the biggest laughs.

The spoken sections certainly felt fresher and more spontaneous but the songs, at the very core of a musical, felt like they could all feature in every show with a few swapped words and phrases. However, in an interview in The Guardian, the cast claim that the show is completely improvised, and I truly hope this is the case. I guess we’d have to see the show again to make a fair judgement on that.

Minor quibbles aside, it was still a riot of fun and the one-hour and ten minutes flew by! The performers are no doubt immensely talented, and the show is heading back to the West End soon for what I’m sure will be another popular run.

MAGIC RATING

VALUE FOR MONEY

OVERALL

Tickets can be booked on the Showstoppers! website or at each respective theatre. Our performance was also livestreamed on YouTube, and another livestream is planned during their Taunton run in July (details on the website and social media channels) https://showstopperthemusical.com/

Disclaimer: Tickets were provided for this event, however all opinions are honest and are our own.