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Cut
to the Chase at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch
Artistic
Director Bob Carlton is bowing out after 17 years at the Queen's
Hornchurch. And what better swan song than his Olivier award-winning
musical, making its umpteenth appearance here before launching a
national tour and finally splashing down in Manchester next May.
It's
a heady mix of Shakespeare, science fiction and classics from the
fifties. You probably have to love all three, and know your way
around, to really appreciate every nuance. And Mr Carlton almost
certainly fits that demographic …
Against
a simple set – somewhere between “Space:1999” and a rock
festival stage – the timeless story plays. The low-tech gadgetry
[hairdryer space guns, bubbles, the wobbly shuttle-craft maquette]
all part of the period charm. And despite the efforts of the
enthusiastic audience, the reverse polarity never quite “fully
operational”.
Mostly
in blank verse, Shakespeare, cod and kosher, cleverly tweaked to fit
the sci-fi scenario, and including some outrageous word-play.
This
twenty-fifth anniversary production has some familiar faces,
including Mark Newnham's “teenager in love” Cookie, reprising his
2012 performance, including the virtuosic guitar solo to ”She's Not
There”, with its ever more extreme riffs.
But
not, alas, “Frido” Ruth, due to make his fourth appearance as the
walking Coke can, but prevented by a tendon torn in preview. His part
is taken, in time-honoured chorus-to-star fashion, by Joseph Mann,
making his Queen's début playing trombone and, with just four hours'
rehearsal, an engagingly cute Ariel.
Sean
Needham is Captain Tempest, his pipe clamped firmly between his
teeth, his tongue permanently in his cheek, with trumpeter Sarah
Scowen as his Miranda. Christine Holman is a strong Science Officer,
later revealed as a pneumatic Gloria. A brilliant Doctor Prospero,
too, in Jonathan Markwood, who's played genuine Shakespeare in this
house, and has great fun giving us both his Lear and his “King”.
Chorus,
not for the first time, was the legendary Brian May, appearing on
screen for prologue, interval and epilogue.
The
music, arranged by Julian Littman with Greg Last directing from up on
the bridge, is always enjoyable, often apposite: Wipe Out, Great
Balls of Fire, Monster Mash, Connie Francis's Robot Man and The
Byrds' Mr Spaceman. Particularly delicious were The Young Ones, with
those Shadows steps, and a wonderful a
cappella
teenager in love.
Actor/musicians
were a breakthrough when the Starship Albatros first made landfall on
Planet D'Illyria, and are still a huge strength of the Queen's
Theatre's offering. The nine-piece band reminds us of their amazing
versatility in the finale, before stepping out of costume and into a
rock gig for a celebratory [or self-indulgent, according to taste]
energetic encore.
The
short run in Hornchurch is a complete sell-out. But fans of this cult
classic will be more than willing to travel, if not to D'Illyria,
then at least to Dartford or Darlington, for the 2015 tour.
production photograph: Nobby Clark
this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews
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