Tag Archives: Sara Perks

MARY AND THE HYENAS

★★★

Wilton’s Music Hall

MARY AND THE HYENAS

Wilton’s Music Hall

★★★

“an eye-catching tribute to millions of devalued female lives”

Animal spirits are roused, and a proto-feminist movement born, amid blood and viscera, in Mary and the Hyenas, a raucous musical re-telling of the short but impactful life of Mary Wollenstonecraft, the 18th century philosopher, writer and radical.

She died, aged 38, following complications giving birth to the girl who would grow up to write Frankenstein, and the show gives Mary the 10 days between birth and death to educate her daughter on how to be a woman in a hostile world.

The dilemma is this: give them the freedom to think and risk a life of restraint and frustration; or let them be ignorant and perhaps content with marriage and childcare.

Mother Mary inevitably chooses the former path – and sets about educating not only her own daughters but every daughter everywhere, riling the patriarchy no end and filling girls’ heads with discomforting notions of self-fulfilment and equality.

Rock chick Mary is brought to vivid life in a tour-de-force performance by Laura Elsworthy, tear-stained, pink-haired, sharp-elbowed and forever with a rebel yell on her lips. She presents Mary not as an invulnerable ideologue, but a woman susceptible to the very traps and manipulations she sees with such clarity elsewhere.

She lives and loves outrageously, and to her very great cost.

Elsworthy is supported by a five-strong backing group – Ainy Medina, Beth Crame, Elexi Walker, Kat Johns-Burke, Kate Hampson – who rise to meet the demands of a very physical production. They are forever scaling designer Sara Perks’ mountainous and boxy set, or donning hats, aprons, glasses, accents etc to create a full cast of characters. In between they belt out songs by Tor Maries (Billy Nomates).

It is a pity that the songs fail to ignite despite all the huffing and puffing on the embers. The shouty affirmations seem to be in search of a melody and the cold Human League style electro-pop doesn’t assist, draining the numbers of emotional connection. The lyrics are symptomatic of the production’s greatest failing. The sloganeering, however well meaning, is an easy go-to, filling the gaps when the story-telling flags. It is a call-and-response of diminishing returns.

Beyond the committed cast, the strengths of director Esther Richardson’s over busy but colourful production lie in the depiction of women conditioned to become little more than ornaments and brood mares. Humour is the most effective weapon in writer Marueen Lennon’s arsenal. She pricks the preening pomposity of the male intelligentsia who view Mary as an oddity to be treated warily and at arm’s length. The audience responds warmly to these infrequent sprigs of wry lampooning and crave more of the same.

(“I won’t be able to apply myself with a husband,’ says one would-be anatomist. “I bet they get in the way.”)

Mary and the Hyenas is an eye-catching tribute to millions of devalued female lives – and to one of endless significance.



MARY AND THE HYENAS

Wilton’s Music Hall

Reviewed on 20th March 2025

by Giles Broadbent

Photography by Tom Arran


Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE MAGIC FLUTE | ★★★★ | February 2025
POTTED PANTO | ★★★★★ | December 2024
THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE | ★★★★ | October 2024
THE GIANT KILLERS | ★★★★ | June 2024
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM | ★★★★★ | April 2024
POTTED PANTO | ★★★★★ | December 2023
FEAST | ★★★½ | September 2023
I WISH MY LIFE WERE LIKE A MUSICAL | ★★★★★ | August 2023
EXPRESS G&S | ★★★★ | August 2023
THE MIKADO | ★★★★ | June 2023

 

MARY AND THE HYENAS

MARY AND THE HYENAS

MARY AND THE HYENAS

MIND MANGLER

★★★★

Apollo Theatre

MIND MANGLER at the Apollo Theatre

★★★★

“The onstage chemistry is faultless, funny and occasionally emotional, without being mawkish”

A little over a decade ago, three students fresh out of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art decided to make some mischief. So, with dead end day jobs and pens in hand, they made ‘Mischief’; the theatre company that is now celebrating ten years in the West End with their inaugural “The Play That Goes Wrong”. Many offshoots have sprung up in the meantime, adopting the same formula. It won’t be alright on the night – of that you can be sure. And their most recent, “Mind Mangler: Member of the Tragic Circle”, stays true to their trademark.

But despite this element of predictability, there are quite a few surprises in store. Not to mention plenty of laughs. And the more we are drawn into the show, the more our respect grows for the odd couple who somehow manage (only just) to hold it all together on stage. Billed as a ‘two-man solo show’, it follows illusionist, magician and mentalist, The Mind Mangler (Henry Lewis), poking fun but also paying homage to the tradition of the magic show. Aided (or otherwise) by his hapless and hopeless stooge (Jonathan Sayer). Lewis and Sayer wrote the piece, along with fellow Mischief maker Henry Shields. Penn and Teller famously collaborated in the process, and the thinly disguised virtuosity of some of the tricks – even if they are apt to go wrong – certainly shines bright through the tongue-in-cheek delivery.

It takes great charisma to successfully portray a character who has no charisma. Just as it takes great talent to convincingly depict the talentless. This pair have it in spades. Lewis is imposing yet relaxed. Quick witted, he is a master at reading his audience (though evidently not their minds) and reacting with finely honed improvisatory skills. Sayer emerges from the auditorium as a planted audience member, making much of this concept throughout. This is their modus operandi. It is stretched a little thin, but the performances keep the entertainment factor nudging the high end of the scales. Not restrained by the magic circle it revolves in, Lewis and Sayer also look up to – and recall – comedy classics such as Laurel and Hardy. The onstage chemistry is faultless, funny and occasionally emotional, without being mawkish.

We never quite lose sight of the fact, however, that this is a scripted play and not a magic act. And we suspect that Sayer is not the only plant in the audience. But it never matters, as we are always rewarded with a punchline delivered with hilarious precision. The banter is delightful, and the lampooning is spontaneous and refreshing. Although we can see what’s coming, the performers suddenly twist it around, so we suddenly view it from a completely different angle. Lewis professes to be able to taste people’s names, smell their job, hear the thoughts of playing cards. We love to see him fail.

As the evening progresses, things do start to go right. Hannah Sharkey’s staging is slick and as precise as the mechanisms behind some of the illusions. But none of this lessens the comic impact, and we still leave the auditorium beaming from ear to ear. It feels personal, as though we have been part of a select few rather than one in a crowded West End theatre. That is where the true magic lies. You don’t need to be a mind reader to predict its ongoing success. We all love a bit of ‘Mischief’.

 

MIND MANGLER at the Apollo Theatre

Reviewed on 24th March 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Pamela Raith

 

 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE TIME TRAVELLER’S WIFE | ★★★ | November 2023
POTTED PANTO | ★★★★★ | December 2022
CRUISE | ★★★★★ | August 2022
MONDAY NIGHT AT THE APOLLO | ★★★½ | May 2021

MIND MANGLER

MIND MANGLER

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