Tag Archives: King’s Head Theatre

Vulvarine

VULVARINE

★★★★★

VAULT Festival 2019

Reviews, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Vulvarine

Vulvarine

The Vaults

Reviewed – 14th March 2019

★★★★★

 

“It’s a rare treat to find musical comedies on the fringe circuit that are as technically good as they are funny”

 

Nothing ever happens in High Wycombe. Bryony Buckle spends her days living alone with her cat Elton, working a monotonous office job with her friend Poppy, and crushing on her colleague Orson. But one day, the combination of a hormone injection from her doctor, and being struck by lightning on her way home, results in Bryony waking up with superpowers! She decides to use them for good: Wherever men are arseholes, Vulvarine is there to stop them. But it isn’t long before she’s challenged by an evil scientist: The Mansplainer. Can Vulvarine and her friends defeat him?

Fat Rascal Theatre continue to set the bar for off-West End musicals. I was lucky enough to catch their Beauty and the Beast: A Musical Parody back in November at The King’s Head, and arrived at VAULT Festival last night with impossibly high expectations. Their Beauty and the Beast was the most fun I’d had at a show in ages; it was a question whether they’d be able to match their own standard. But without doubt, Fat Rascal have done it again. Vulvarine is a triumph of musical theatre.

A powerhouse of a show, Vulvarine is an astoundingly clever and absolutely hilarious musical parody of the superhero genre. It’s also feminism at its silliest and most entertaining. West-End voices belt out smart, witty lyrics (Robyn Grant, Daniel Elliot) to fun, highly accomplished music (James Ringer-Beck). The performers are superb. Their comedy is faultless, their parody expert.

Self-aware humour is one of Fat Rascal’s own superpowers. With a somewhat lower budget than the typical Marvel film, they create a brilliantly funny aesthetic with cheap wigs, comically fast costume changes, flimsy props, and total mockery of ‘effects’ (a handheld vacuum in reverse is the wind as Vulvarine ‘flies through the air’). The show is laugh-out-loud from start to finish. The audience really almost never stops laughing. There ought to be a warning for anyone prone to hysterical fits; some people lost it completely.

Allie Munro is equally lovable and fierce as Bryony/Vulvarine. Jamie Mawson is delightful as the ‘pretty’ love interest, Orson (a nice gender swap from typical Marvel plotlines). Steffan Rizzi is great as Sonya, and sings a particularly powerful solo – “Boys Will Be Boys” – which is done with surprising heart and skill. Robyn Grant and Katie Wells slay their multi-rolling performances. All of the voices in this show belong on much larger stages. It’s a rare treat to find musical comedies on the fringe circuit that are as technically good as they are funny.

Fat Rascal Theatre are at the top of their game. An undeniable hit, Vulvarine is the latest addition to their list of victories. The show is shamelessly silly fun, created by powerfully talented people. You’ll be hard-pressed to spend a more enjoyable hour and fifteen minutes in a theatre.

 

Reviewed by Addison Waite

Photography courtesy Fat Rascal Theatre

 

Vault Festival 2019

Vulvarine

Part of VAULT Festival 2019

 

Also by Fat Rascal Theatre:
Beauty and the Beast: A Musical Parody | ★★★★★ | King’s Head Theatre | November 2018

 

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com

 

Timpson the Musical
★★★

King’s Head Theatre

Reviews, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Timpson the Musical

Timpson the Musical

King’s Head Theatre

Reviewed – 19th February 2019

★★★

 

“While the show is undoubtedly entertaining, it’s difficult not to wish for more thought behind the jokes”

 

We all know Timpson, the high street shop for your shoe-repair and key-cutting needs. But few know how the company came to be. The true story isn’t all that interesting: William Timpson and his brother-in-law Walter Joyce decided to go into business together. So Gigglemug Theatre have “invented a new one instead” (as their opening number goes): a musical Romeo and Juliet spoof, set in Victorian London, featuring Monty Montashoe and Keeleigh Keypulet as young lovers from two warring households.

Written and directed by Sam Cochrane and Chris Baker, Timpson: The Musical is pure slapstick. It’s a creative premise and an hour of sophomoric silliness that’s heavy on camp but unfortunately short on wit. The show’s humour is based on randomness rather than cleverness, which will work for some, but not others. ‘Keys are tiny saws!’ ‘I invented a dog door-flap, but for people! A people-flap!’ Someone runs screaming across the stage for no reason (something I’ve seen executed more successfully before). There are mimed punches and pratfalls. While the show is undoubtedly entertaining, it’s difficult not to wish for more thought behind the jokes. Some freshness of perspective would lift the comedy. Charlie Chaplin once said that the better joke is not the woman slipping on the banana peel; it’s the woman stepping over the banana peel and falling down a manhole. Timpson is a regular slip on a banana peel.

Although none of the songs are particularly memorable, they’re fun, and the singing is very well done all around. It’s a high-energy musical, and the actors give one hundred percent. Sabrina Messer is likeable as Keeleigh. James Stirling and Rachael Chomer are solid as Master Keypulet and Lady Montashoe. Alex Prescot (Man 1) deserves special commendation for his parody of multi-roling. Cochrane (Man 2) and Madeleine Gray (Monty) have impressive stamina. However, somehow, in a musical that is unmitigated camp, Gray’s performance is noticeably hammy. She pulls faces and leans heavily into physical and verbal jokes that are not sound enough to hold the weight. The exaggeration could use some dialling back. Regardless, the performers are all on full-force. This is not a show that will have you surreptitiously checking the time.

The audience last night exemplified the divisiveness of Timpson’s humour: one section never missed a cue to laugh, while in mine I may have heard a cricket on several occasions. A good litmus test is this: if you find the thought of keys being ‘tiny saws’ very funny, go see the show. If not, be warned that incredibly this joke is the crux of both the comedy and the story.

 

Reviewed by Addison Waite

Photography courtesy Gigglemug Theatre

 


Timpson the Musical

King’s Head Theatre until 9th March

 

 

King’s Head Theatre – winner of our 2018 Awards – Best London Pub Theatre

 

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:
La Traviata | ★★★★ | October 2018
No Leaves on my Precious Self | ★★ | October 2018
Beauty and the Beast: A Musical Parody | ★★★★★ | November 2018
Brexit | ★★★★★ | November 2018
Buttons: A Cinderella Story | ★★★★ | November 2018
Momma Golda | ★★★ | November 2018
The Crumple Zone | ★★ | November 2018
Outlying Islands | ★★★★ | January 2019
Carmen | ★★★★ | February 2019

 

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com