Dominica Plummer Archives - Page 47 of 87

The Choir of Man

Arts Theatre

Reviewed – 10th November 2021

★★★★★

“The Choir of Man is that rare thing, a simultaneously deeply familiar, yet different, West End musical experience”

“Welcome to the Jungle” is the friendly sign on stage that greets audiences as they enter for an eighty minute sing along at the Arts Theatre in Covent Garden—and what a welcome it turns out to be. The Choir of Man, first created in 2017 for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, has since toured around the world to great acclaim. It’s easy to see why. Despite being built around a simple premise—a group of men gathered together for an evening in their favourite pub, the Jungle—the show turns out to be more than just a bunch of blokes sitting around, swapping songs, and drinking beer. The Choir of Man is an updated take on the importance of the local pub in people’s lives. And there isn’t a whiff of stale beer from beginning to end.

The Choir of Man, created by Nic Doodson and Andrew Kay, is built to entertain. It also pulls at the heartstrings in unexpected ways. The cast invites you into their lives, giving their real names. They’re not there to brag or to pretend to be something they’re not—but to talk frankly about their vulnerabilities. In doing so, they cast light on why men, in the midst of their greatest joys and sorrows, head unerringly to the local pub. Doodson and Kay’s approach strikes just the right chord—especially when sung to the right tunes. The Choir of Man sounds like it shouldn’t work as well as it does, but the earnest, often rhyming, monologues (written by Ben Norris) create solid characters for us to identify with. The monologues are also the introductions to the roles that are linked with the songs. This technique does verge on the corny from time to time, such as when a man, married too young, and bored with the relationship, puts a personal ad in the local paper. But The Choir of Man has a fresh take on Rupert Holmes’ Pina Colada Song, (written long before dating apps, remember). The spirit the cast brings to this song, and the other old favourites, creates an infectious energy. When asked, there are plenty of volunteers from the audience willing to go on stage and take part in the fun.

The production displays a wealth of easily accessible performance and design touches that match the concept. The performers of The Choir of Man have pleasant voices, project solid niceness of character without being dull, and they’re well dressed in unassuming clothes (good choices by costume designer Verity Sadler). They move well (kudos to Freddie Huddleston for the choreography that manages to look natural even while upping the energy in the room.) The talented live band is placed above the pub so that the audience can see their work, while watching the dynamic singing and dancing below. Oli Townsend has created an effective set design that gives director Nic Doodson just the right kind of space to work with. The playing time of The Choir of Man is also well judged—long enough to keep the audience delighted, yet eager for more.

The most remarkable thing about The Choir of Man is not what a good evening’s entertainment it is, and it is—but in seeing how many men in the audience seemed more than content to be there cheering and singing along instead of spending the evening at, you guessed it, their local pub. This show clearly hits a nerve with the guys—and it’s a happy one. But The Choir of Man is not just for them. The atmosphere throughout is adroitly managed by the team on stage and off it, and everyone, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, will feel welcome at The Jungle. The Choir of Man is that rare thing, a simultaneously deeply familiar, yet different, West End musical experience. And the more intimate Arts Theatre in Covent Garden, in the vicinity of all the big musical theatres, is exactly the right place for this singular show.

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Helen Maybanks

The Choir of Man

Arts Theatre until January 2022

Previously reviewed this year by Dominica:

Public Domain | ★★★★ | Online | January 2021

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice | ★★★ | Online | February 2021

Adventurous | ★★½ | Online | March 2021

Stags | ★★★★ | Network Theatre | May 2021

Overflow | ★★★★★ | Sadler’s Wells Theatre | May 2021

The Sorrows of Satan | ★★★ | Online | May 2021

Doctor Who Time Fracture | ★★★★ | Unit HQ | June 2021

Wild Card | ★★★★ | Sadler’s Wells Theatre | June 2021

In My Own Footsteps | ★★★★★ | Book Review | June 2021

L’Egisto | ★★★ | Cockpit Theatre | June 2021

Luck be a Lady | ★★★ | White Bear Theatre | June 2021

The Game Of Love And Chance | ★★★★ | Arcola Theatre | July 2021

The Ladybird Heard | ★★★★ | Palace Theatre | July 2021

Starting Here, Starting Now | ★★★★★ | Waterloo East Theatre | July 2021

Rune | ★★★ | Round Chapel | August 2021

Roots | ★★★★★ | Wilton’s Music Hall | October 2021

The Witchfinder’s Sister | ★★★ | Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch | October 2021

Rice | ★★★★ | Orange Tree Theatre | October 2021

Love And Other Acts Of Violence | ★★★★ | Donmar Warehouse | October 2021

One Man Poe | ★★★ | The Space | October 2021

Vinegar Tom | ★★★ | The Maltings Theatre | October 2021

Marlowe’s Fate | ★★★ | White Bear Theatre | December 2021

Click here to see our most recent reviews

★★★

“the charm and energy of the cast keep things bubbling along”

Marlowe’s Fate by Peter B. Hodges, and directed by the author, has just opened at the White Bear Theatre in Kennington. Set initially in 1593, the year of Marlowe’s death, this is yet another drama dealing with the question of who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays. Answer: Shakespeare. But Shakespeare skeptics around the world will rejoice at a new exhumation on an epic mystery that never seems to stay buried. The set up is this: what if Marlowe didn’t die in a tavern brawl in Deptford, but was, instead, spirited away to Europe as a spy for Queen Elizabeth the First and her Privy Council?

Peter Hodges has chosen to treat this material in a comic way, and it’s certainly more palatable than the alternative. Marlowe’s Fate opens in the aforementioned Deptford tavern. Present are the hired assassins, Ingram Frizer, Nicholas Skeres and Robert Poley, discussing the job of dispatching the playwright who has been dazzling London theatre audiences with his Tamburlaine and Doctor Faustus. They are regretful about having to kill him since they are fans. Marlowe himself enters, and is, understandably, a bit upset to discover that he is about to be assassinated. He is only a bit less upset to find out that his death is going to be faked so that he can continue his work as a spy. At this point, Marlowe’s Fate becomes not a play about Marlowe’s mysterious death, but instead, a play about his eventual return from Europe (if ever). But to Marlowe the playwright, the more important question is this: how he can continue to write, and get his poems and plays out to his adoring public? Well, you guessed it. Enter an uneducated, unsophisticated glover’s son named Will’m Shaxper (sic) from Stratford upon Avon, looking for work with a local printer.

I won’t provide spoilers for this Marlovian/Shakespearean romp except to say that it has a little bit of everything. “Everything” including a rather wonderful impromptu puppet show featuring the Annual Shakespearean Author’s Challenge that opens the second act. As long as you are comfortable with the way that Marlowe’s Fate quickly devolves into absurdity from the few known facts about Christopher Marlowe (and William Shakespeare, for that matter), you will enjoy Hodges’ work in this spirited production. The play is overly long, and there is way too much exposition needed to explain how everything comes about, but the charm and energy of the cast (particularly Nicholas Limm as Marlowe, and Lewis Allcock as Shaxper) keep things bubbling along. As with most productions at the White Bear Theatre, “great reckonings in little rooms” are standard fare here, and the seven actors of Marlowe’s Fate don’t let the small space cramp their style. Penn O’Gara’s costumes and puppets are delightfully and economically made, and Reuben Speed’s Elizabethan tavern design feels appropriately “period.”

This is definitely a show for Shakespeare scholars seeking a break from another interminable conference, or for graduate students in search of a busman’s holiday from writing the never ending PhD dissertation. But really, Marlowe’s Fate is for anyone who enjoys a good “what if?” rather than a “whodunnit.”

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Benji Paris

Arts Theatre

Reviewed – 10th November 2021

★★★★★

“The Choir of Man is that rare thing, a simultaneously deeply familiar, yet different, West End musical experience”

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Helen Maybanks

The Choir of Man

Arts Theatre until January 2022

Previously reviewed this year by Dominica:

White Bear Theatre

Reviewed – 5th November 2021

★★★

“the charm and energy of the cast keep things bubbling along”

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Benji Paris

Marlowe’s Fate

White Bear Theatre until 28th November

Previously reviewed at this venue this year: