★★★½

“an hour of squirm-inducing silliness you’ll want to bring all your friends to”

Recently barred from the Royal Shakespeare Company, Garry Starr is on a mission to save theatre from the pretentious establishment who make Billy Shakes boring. To achieve this, he has under an hour to pack in as many genres as possible, to show, solo, how they should really be performed.

It’s a high-energy romp and a quintessential fringe comedy show. One hour of intensely physical theatre best enjoyed after sinking one or two pints. Both to more heartily laugh at the silliness of it all and to more readily volunteer as Garry’s co-star.

Garry, the creation of Damien Warren-Smith, is endearingly eccentric with his lack of self awareness leading to comic error rather than arrogance. He is full of malapropisms – those who don’t understand the theatre are phallustines; we are told about Starr’s semenal work; and introduced to Placeidon – the god of the sea and after birth. Dressed in Elizabethan ruff and too-tight, knee-length leggings-come-breeches, Warren-Smith as Starr gives us a rendition of what Act 2 Scene 2 of Hamlet would have sounded like in Shakespeare’s day. Then, stripping down to a very small and well-stuffed jock-strap, prances about to show us contemporary dance. It is telling that the piece ends with Garry’s take on Cirque Nouveau – for this show owes more to clowns and jesters than it does to Ibsen or Chekhov.

Acclaimed director Cal McCrystal, responsible for directing an early show for The Mighty Boosh and the physical comedy in One Man, Two Guvnors, is an excellent fit for Warren-Smith’s slapstick. But the audience interaction, general lack of clothing and, at times, full frontal nudity, felt like it owed a lot to shows directed by Dr Brown, like Natalie Palamides’ Laid and Courtney Pauruoso’s Gutterplum. Perhaps that’s not surprising, given both Dr Brown and Damien Warren-Smith, the man behind the character, both trained at the Parisian clown academy Ecole Philippe Gaulier.

The show suffers from the Nanette-ification of comedy, where a set is not complete without its final act reckoning with the struggles that forged it. Here it feels contrived and out of kilter with the rest of the outrageous silliness of the rest of the show. Some comedy, particularly clowning and physical theatre, can just be unashamedly funny.

Nonetheless I was stunned when the show ended that an hour had already gone by. I would happily have kept watching whilst Starr took on kitchen-sink drama or Gilbert and Sullivan. Garry Starr’s high energy dramatics hold up a funhouse mirror to theatre making for an hour of squirm-inducing silliness you’ll want to bring all your friends to.

SLEEPING BEAUTY TAKES A PRICK! at Charing Cross Theatre

★★★★

“a fabulously silly night out of innuendo, double entendres and tongue twisting rhymes”

Pantomime is one of Britain’s most enduring Yuletide traditions. Its origins go back to 16th century Italian Commedia dell’Arte although, as with most Christmas traditions, it was much improved upon by the Victorians. You can see the century’s old traditions of gender swapping in the grand old dames and evidence of when performers weren’t allowed to speak in its physical comedy. He’s Behind You!, a new production company from the team behind pantos of yore at Above The Stag theatre, take panto to the next logical conclusion, turning the camp up to 11 with a no holds barred, totally gay panto in ‘Sleeping Beauty Takes a Prick!’

Welcome to Slutvia! A lesser-known eastern European state, home to Prince Charming and Queen Gertrude who are welcoming their first born baby and now heir to the throne to the nation’s Sluts. This is all much to the dismay of Prince Camembert, Prince Charming’s sassy younger brother who is now out of the line of succession. Prince Camembert’s curse, that a prick will kill the young boy before he comes of age, is modified by the fairy godmother so that he will only croak if pricked from behind. Skip forward to days before the prince turns 21 and, of course, hilarity ensues.

It’s an uproarious production, satirically written by Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper but largely carried by the comedic performances of Matthew Baldwin as the fabulous Queen Gertrude, whose difficulty for remembering names and catch phrase of ‘don’t correct me’ got funnier each time, and Chris Lane as the villainously bitchy Prince Camembert.

“Costumes by Sandy Lloyd and Robert Draper are impressively extravagant”

The whole cast are enthusiastically panto with surprising musical chops. Daisy the distracted Fairy Godmother, played by Jordan Stamatiadis, and Myrtle/Maria, played by Nikki Biddington, both have strong vocal performances – surpassing expectations for a panto of this scale. The real surprise vocally however, is Matthew Gent as Josef/Jonas whose sweet lovelorn duet with Nikki Biddington is revealing of his West End credentials.

The original music and lyrics by Jon Bradfield are a real highlight and the show could have benefitted from more. The opening number, ‘Welcome to Slutvia’, really sets the tone for what’s to come; an interlude in the song ‘At the Races’ sending up ‘Cats’ really tickled the musical buffs in the audience; and ‘Meet Me in the Garden’ at the end of the second act, sets up the most squirm inducing moment of the show.

Costumes by Sandy Lloyd and Robert Draper are impressively extravagant, especially for Queen Gertrude in their Art Deco glamour and, occasionally, ability to spray bodily fluids. David Shields’ set also seems to spare no expense with an inordinate number of scene changes. Where set and props are lower budget they are intentionally the butt of the joke, all in the spirit of panto.

If you’re looking for a fabulously silly night out of innuendo, double entendres and tongue twisting rhymes without kiddies throwing lightsabers about, this show will hit the spot.

GARRY STARR PERFORMS EVERYTHING at Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★½

“an hour of squirm-inducing silliness you’ll want to bring all your friends to”

GARRY STARR PERFORMS EVERYTHING at Southwark Playhouse Borough

Reviewed on 4th December 2023

by Amber Woodward

Photography by Jeromaia Detto

More Southwark Playhouse reviews:

Garry Starr Performs Everything

Garry Starr Performs Everything

SLEEPING BEAUTY TAKES A PRICK! at Charing Cross Theatre

★★★★

“a fabulously silly night out of innuendo, double entendres and tongue twisting rhymes”

“Costumes by Sandy Lloyd and Robert Draper are impressively extravagant”

SLEEPING BEAUTY TAKES A PRICK! at Charing Cross Theatre

Reviewed on 29th November 2023

by Amber Woodward

Photography by Danny Kaan

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Sleeping Beauty Takes a Prick!

Sleeping Beauty Takes a Prick!