Tag Archives: Sean Turner

WHY I STUCK A FLARE UP MY ARSE FOR ENGLAND

★★★★★

Southwark Playhouse Borough

WHY I STUCK A FLARE UP MY ARSE FOR ENGLAND at Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★★★

“Alex Hill is outstanding. He performs the role of Billy with such energy and dynamism it’s exhausting just to watch”

Ever wondered what might cause a man to do something as reckless as sticking a flare up his bum at the World Cup final? In the appropriately titled Why I stuck a Flare Up my Arse for England, writer, performer and producer Alex Hill gives us his interpretation which is funny, charming and surprisingly heartfelt all at once.

Hill introduces us to Billy Kinley, a kid from southwest London who grows up with an inherited love for the game. He and his best mate Adam are football mad – kicking about in the park and attending local club AFC Wimbledon weekly. When they leave school, Adam gets a job in the City whilst Billy works at the hairdressers run by his parents, but they still meet at the local café every week for a full English before the game. Then they meet ‘the King’ of the old firm, inexplicably named Winegum, and his equally obtusely named mates. Billy gets stuck in with the boozing, coke, and fighting, but Adam is reticent and their friendship starts to change.

There’s a lot that’s only briefly touched on, or left entirely unsaid: about Billy and Adam’s relationship but also about Billy’s grief over his mum’s death, and his burgeoning relationship with Daisy, the café’s waitress. Whilst this may slightly hamper the exposition, it certainly adds to the sense that Billy is coasting through life, not thinking too deeply about anyone or anything, just to get by. It’s intelligently and intentionally emotionally shallow, right up until the closing moments.

 

 

Alex Hill is outstanding. He performs the role of Billy with such energy and dynamism it’s exhausting just to watch. Under Sean Turner’s direction, Hill darts across the stage from pillar to post; necks not one, but two pints (the second largely, excusably, going down his front); and essentially barely takes a breath throughout. Hill even dials the energy up to eleven after taking his first line and having a rager at Infernos; or when he gets into his first fight and keeps punching until white noise takes over; or when the drum beat of Match Day, pints, gear, fight builds to a climax. Props must also be given to his script, littered with wry observations and rhetorical devices that keep the audience tittering throughout.

For a one man, one hour long show there are a surprising number of locations, each subtly situated with expert lighting, sound and stage design. Designer Joel Clements’ immediately sets the tone with distressed England flags of various shapes and sizes stitched together to form an almost quilted backdrop. Matt Cater’s lighting design expertly delivers, making the most of the full rig of the Southwark Playhouse. Together with sound designer Sam Baxter, the full design of this show leads to particular moments of playfulness – for example where a pool table appears on stage from a green rectangular gobo; or when the lights come up on the audience and strings of fairy lights appear accompanied by the sound of tuning strings with Alex as Billy shimmying into a seat at a West End theatre.

This interplay between theatre and football is skilfully observed by Hill. It’s a theme that’s definitely in vogue as evidenced by the abundance of football themed theatre of late. The National Theatre’s blockbuster ‘Dear England’ and the Bush Theatre’s ‘Red Pitch’ both received stellar reviews from this site. As Hill uses Billy to point out, it’s perhaps the theatricality and the drama of the game that makes football ripe for interpretation on the stage. But more than that, for men in particular, football is also the primary source of community and friendship in their lives – making it a thoroughly apt way to explore the contemporary male psyche. For a piece with such a plainly humorous title it’s a surprisingly multi-layered exploration of masculinity, friendship, romantic relationships and family.


WHY I STUCK A FLARE UP MY ARSE FOR ENGLAND at Southwark Playhouse Borough

Reviewed on 22nd April 2024

by Amber Woodward

Photography by Rah Petherbridge

 

 

 

 

Previously reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues:

SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE VALLEY OF FEAR | ★★½ | March 2024
POLICE COPS: THE MUSICAL | ★★★★ | March 2024
CABLE STREET – A NEW MUSICAL | ★★★ | February 2024
BEFORE AFTER | ★★★ | February 2024
AFTERGLOW | ★★★★ | January 2024
UNFORTUNATE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF URSULA THE SEA WITCH A MUSICAL PARODY | ★★★★ | December 2023
GARRY STARR PERFORMS EVERYTHING | ★★★½ | December 2023
LIZZIE | ★★★ | November 2023
MANIC STREET CREATURE | ★★★★ | October 2023
THE CHANGELING | ★★★½ | October 2023
RIDE | ★★★ | July 2023
HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS … | ★★★★★ | May 2023

WHY I STUCK A FLARE UP MY ARSE FOR ENGLAND

WHY I STUCK A FLARE UP MY ARSE FOR ENGLAND

Click here to see our Recommended Shows page

 

Review of King Tut – A Pyramid Panto – 4 Stars

Tut

King Tut – A Pyramid Panto

King’s Head Theatre

Reviewed – 28th November 2017

★★★★

“wickedly funny, and performed with great gusto”

 

If you are looking for some rather bonkers fun this is for you. The last time I went to a panto it was with small children. It was enjoyable, but earsplitting and really for the kids, so I didn’t think pantomime was my thing. However, King Tut – A Pyramid Panto has really changed my mind. It’s definitely not for the kids (though there are some family friendly shows in the run) and it is absolutely hilarious! It is quite a feat, on press night, to have the whole audience singing silly songs, yelling ‘don’t do it!’ and generally having a jolly good time. With a good range of fart jokes, sly contemporary references and lots of familiar tunes (with very different lyrics!), King Tut delights. It is wickedly funny, and performed with great gusto and musical virtuosity by Charles Court Opera.

The story is, very, very, loosely, based on Howard Carter’s expedition to discover the tomb of Tutankhamen. Except this Carter goes back in time and meets the young Pharaoh in person. The ensemble singing is pitch perfect and the singers are also excellent and energetic actors.

All pantomimes need a great villain and John Savournin’s Lord Conniving is a treat. He blusters and swaggers, inviting boos and hisses from the willing audience and singing up a storm with his rich, powerful bass-baritone. He has impeccable comic timing and a natural sense of how to get the audience involved. He is also the writer and director of this wonderful romp. Matt J Ward is endearing as a lovestruck and rather hapless Howard Carter and his excruciating awkwardness and ‘particular difficulty’ in getting close to the lovely Evelyn become an ongoing daft and giggle inducing theme. Evelyn is played with unaffected warmth by Francesca Fenech, and she and Ward had us rooting for the successful start of their relationship. If you want to know if they get together you will have to see the show!

King Tut is played with street style and bravado by the exquisite welsh soprano Alys Roberts. She is small enough to play the boy king, with a voice big enough to fill the space with effortless ease. A voice that can soar to the rafters in her higher range and also take on pop and rap silliness without sounding forced. The final cast member is Philip Lee who plays the porter, the camel and the gameshow host. He is a comic chameleon, inhabiting each character with relish. His lovable camel gallops from gleeful to poignant, and he seems to channel the spirit of Bruce Forsyth when he appears to host the gameshow. He also has a gorgeous tenor voice and fantastic physicality. Dave Jennings is on percussion, and his head makes a brief appearance at one point.

With those panto must-haves of a shimmering set (Sean Turner) and slightly OTT costumes (Mia Wallden), King Tut is a great evening out. Why not get some friends together and grab some tickets? You won’t regret it!

 

Reviewed by Katre

Photography by William Knight

 

 

 

KING TUT – A PYRAMID PANTO

is at the King’s Head Theatre until 6th January

 

 

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