HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS

Arcola Theatre

★★★★

“Although lacking the traditional sleigh bells and Santa, it does have sufficient nostalgia, silliness and giggles to fill a panto-shaped hole”

In case you’re wondering, “Hold on to your butts” is a line from Samuel L Jackson as he is about to reboot the computer systems of Jurassic Park in the 1993 ground-breaking monster flick.

It’s a terrible title for a fun evening but, I suppose, theatre company Recent Cutbacks can’t stick “Jurassic Park” anywhere near the poster for legal reasons.

But the copyright holders need not fear for their intellectual property. It’s in safe hands. This madcap shot-for-shot re-creation of the mega-dinosaur smash is made by people who adore the movie. And love movie-making.

It’s 10 years since this slick whistlestop tribute opened in New York City, later wowing crowds at the Edinburgh Fringe and now setting up at the Arcola under the direction of Kristin McCarthy Parker. Although lacking the traditional sleigh bells and Santa, it does have sufficient nostalgia, silliness and giggles to fill a panto-shaped hole.

This production takes you back. Not just to Steven Spielberg’s genius film, but to your garage, or garden, or park. Where on a rainy Sunday, with nothing else to do and the wifi down, you and your mates stumble upon a cardboard box from Tesco which once held pineapples. The box becomes everything – castle, racing car, majestic pirate ship scything the seven seas…

Here, two performers and a sound artist perform a similar feat of ingenuity and imagination in this lo-fi, charming and very funny evocation of the original.

What’s that you say? A herd of serene brachiosaurus sweeping across the plains of Isla Nublar? Here you go. A mosquito trapped in a piece of amber? A barley sugar will suffice, no?

Performers Jack Baldwin and Laurence Pears tread the fine line between slavish adoration of the original and good-natured fanboy parody. On the sidelines, but equally a star, is foley artist Charlie Ives recreating T-Rex roars, rainstorms, computer beeps, creaking branches and everything else that helps make the fun funnier.

The humour is often of the Airplane! variety – aforementioned (pre-Pulp Fiction) Samuel L Jackson’s growing smoking habit an example – and much of the joy is in the anticipation, figuring out how two men and some props retrieved from a trash can are going to make a car fall through a tree, or create the tension of a raptor hunt. And there’s much humour to be mined in the script too – such as Jeff Goldblum’s wry “chaotician” delivering his memorable brow-knitted cod-philosophies studded with Pinteresque ‘umms’ and pauses. Or that perky and patronising strand of DNA explaining how cloning works.

It helps to know something about the film because the sheer challenge of miniaturisation does lend itself to some confusion, but the iconic scenes are all there as anchors – the ripples on the cup of water, T-Rex going to town on a toilet-bound Donald Gennaro, probing a big pile of dino-poop, sweaty Wayne Knight, girlie Laura Dern…

This is the perfect night for anyone who’s ever seen a stack of cone party hats and thought – three of them, artfully placed – there’s my triceratops!

HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS

Arcola Theatre

Reviewed on 13th December 2024

by Giles Broadbent

Photography by Mark Senior

Previously reviewed at this venue:

DISTANT MEMORIES OF THE NEAR FUTURE | ★★★ | November 2024

THE BAND BACK TOGETHER | ★★★★ | September 2024

MR PUNCH AT THE OPERA | ★★★ | August 2024

FABULOUS CREATURES | ★★★ | May 2024

THE BOOK OF GRACE | ★★★★★ | May 2024

LIFE WITH OSCAR | ★★★ | April 2024

WHEN YOU PASS OVER MY TOMB | ★★★★★ | February 2024

SPUTNIK SWEETHEART | ★★★ | October 2023

GENTLEMEN | ★★★★ | October 2023

THE BRIEF LIFE & MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF BORIS III, KING OF BULGARIA | ★★★★★ | September 2023

THE WETSUITMAN | ★★★ | August 2023

UNION | ★★★ | July 2023

HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS

We’re now on BLUESKY – click to visit and follow

★★★

“a bold and fresh idea”

Set in a near future Britain where advertising is king, and data harvesting unnervingly personalised, love prevails against all algorithmic probabilities. Multiple stories, multiple romances, all entangled within this technological dystopia. A tech entrepreneur falls in love with a poet, an app user is branded unlovable, and an astronaut remembers her wife. These stories link through one moment that questions the true nature of connection.

Written and performed by David Head, this show sparkles in its lampooning of consumer culture and advertising. The narrative tone borders on observational stand-up, from commenting on dating apps, to shared workspaces, to accepting cookies online. It’s sharp, and on point.

The show is a multimedia feast. As the story evolves, it is interrupted by advertisements, transported to the world of TED talks and immersed in the in-app design of ‘Q-Pid’ the latest dating app craze. These projected videos, by Joseph Peecock (lead video design) and Katya Shipulina (advert video design) perfectly capture the tone and style of contemporary advertising. They feel disconcertingly real. This is amplified by Liz Mcleod’s graphic design. While perhaps a little overused, these clips are witty and expertly rendered.

While Head’s writing is undeniably well-crafted, with each joke snappily landing, the story is slightly disjointed. It takes place across different timelines, perspectives, and at one point – different planets. While it comes together in a neat conclusion, there are moments that might’ve been pared back.

Laura Killeen’s direction uses careful blocking to denote character, with different stories unfolding in different areas of the stage. While this helps to clarify the multiple story strands, when added to the multi-media elements, it leaves the overall flow feeling choppy.

The emotional crux of the play is a moving storyline involving an aging interplanetary miner yearning to hear her wife’s voice one last time. For this portion the narrative style feels distancing, made more so by the use of a mostly static puppet. This should provide a striking visual moment, especially with the addition of revolving torchlight and glimmering ‘stars’ from lighting consultant Amy Daniels. But it lacks the desired poignant punch. At this point Head’s performance style stilts the potential for the concept, which is a shame, because it could be deeply moving.

As the piece develops, the tone shifts towards a hopeful note, with Jessica Munna playing an on-screen AI bot turned poet. In its sincerity, the energy of the show droops a little, and I found myself missing the gloomy wit of the beginning. The play never quite untangles its bleak dystopia, and the inspirational message feels a little hollow after the accuracy of the earlier satire.

It’s a bold and fresh idea, which pokes fun at oddities of the internet age while allowing a for a glimmer of hope in dark times.

HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS

Arcola Theatre

★★★★

“Although lacking the traditional sleigh bells and Santa, it does have sufficient nostalgia, silliness and giggles to fill a panto-shaped hole”

HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS

Arcola Theatre

Reviewed on 13th December 2024

by Giles Broadbent

Photography by Mark Senior

Previously reviewed at this venue:

HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS

HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS

HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS

DISTANT MEMORIES OF THE NEAR FUTURE at the Arcola Theatre

★★★

“a bold and fresh idea”

DISTANT MEMORIES OF THE NEAR FUTURE at the Arcola Theatre

Reviewed on 13th November 2024

by Auriol Reddaway

Photography by Max Caine

Previously reviewed at this venue:

DISTANT MEMORIES OF THE NEAR FUTURE

DISTANT MEMORIES OF THE NEAR FUTURE