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Art, Festivals, Theatre

Review, OMELETTEMACHINE, Tommaso Giacomin, Vault Festival, By Hannah Goslin

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out of 5 stars (4 / 5)

If you are not familiar with the style of Bouffon theatre, then you are severely missing out.

Myself having trained in this art and a huge fan of Red Bastard, was so pleased to see and be invited to a show using this type of theatre, so little seen or experienced in modern theatre, while being the right genre to grace our stages.

A brief outline of Bouffon; grotesque creatures are made with costume and physicality, to comment on taboos of the world. These clowns address these topics without barriers and put them almost uncomfortably into your face, leaving you not knowing whether to laugh, cry or be thought provoked.

OMELETTEMACHINE, loosely based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, addressing issues around family trauma, of power and mental violence and to some degree, of capitalism. A clowned chicken meets egg is forcibly made to work in his father’s butchery, unable to leave and tortured to massacre fellow chickens. He is unable to leave, and if so, commits punishments of almost cannibalism with “rotten” egg eating, smashing of eggs and chopping of chicken meat.

This production is very powerful; Bouffon aims to make the audience uncomfortable and Giacomin does this in spades. He isn’t afraid of addressing the audience, bringing them into the folds of his torture. This is through direct interaction, through the use of raw meat and blood-like liquid, through the beginning projection of live chicks in a factory. Real blades are used, unceremoniously chopping at raw meat; raw chickens still in tact and grotesquely danced on stage or come through the audience on a electric toy car. It’s these elements of surprise that are comedic but make you uneasy. It entirely and fantastically achieves what it is meant to, really making you think. And if you’re vegetarian like myself, there’s a barrier of disgust but admiration for the boundaries that are being pushed to make comments on these topics. A sense of “working for the man” comes to mind when Giacomin uses repetition to advertise his father’s butchers, with monotonous and repeated tasks and conversations. There’s the family trauma but also a sense of working for something and someone you are against.

Giacomin has the style of Bouffon on instant look; plumped up with padding and contorted physicality, he is comedic and difficult to look at, moving his face into an almost unrecognisable clown. When we reach the end of the production, he lays himself bare, releasing the shackles of his costume and returning to his natural features and this is when you truly realise the lengths he has taken in his bodily and facial contortion to create the character. If we had not seen him undress on stage before us, you would almost think they were two different actors. He is childlike, to meet the idea of his father’s control yet somehow uncomfortably adult, with the mixture of the two creating a feeling uneasiness. He is full of emotions of anger, of fear, of borderline mental illness and it makes it subtly chaotic, your body itchy with uncomfortability but entirely thought provoked. This is a triumph of Bouffon.

OMELETTEMACHINE is brilliant – it is everything that Bouffon is meant to be and leaves you laughing, uncomfortable and yet with a profound thought on family relationships and the capitalist world.

Festivals, Theatre

Review, The Messiah Complex, Bag of Beard, Vault Festival, By Hannah Goslin

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out of 5 stars (5 / 5)

I love when you go to a production and come away having seen perfection.

The Messiah Complex, by Bag of Beard, is the Utopian, almost post-apocalyptic-world story of Sethian, interned in a mental asylum for his faith and the actions that lead him towards this situation. We see flashbacks of what happened along with what led to these, analysed within the controlling and manipulative asylum, equally flawed and equally cult-like. The story makes it hard to side with anyone within the story, both deeply poisoned in their thinking, but also very similar in their approach to life. A world where it is illegal to have faith, believed to lead to crimes, war, disease but those who control this belief, themselves, have arguable opinions and actions themselves. Two cults against one another.

The Messiah Complex in its aesthetic and narrative very much made me think of The Royal Court Theatre and their productions – greeted with Sethian already in a trance, he is surrounded by a square of light with projection images running behind him – very abstract and visually appealing, creating an atmosphere instead of waiting for it. The narrative being easily believable yet also wide enough a concept to be almost futuristic.

I could not distinguish a “better” performer in the production. All very different characters, all were entirely formed, believable to the point of feeling intrusive; we could have cut the fourth wall away and be looking directly into the house, the cell, their world. Sethian is kind, he is clearly in love and at the same time, clearly influenced and mentally affected by this. His wife Sophia is likeable, but clearly powerful and influential, convincing Sethian with her looks, her love, her mind to believe in the religion, the cult and he will do anything to satisfy that. The nurse, also entirely influenced, if not also brainwashed by the government and information of the time, has a level of authority and vacancy of emotion, but at the same time is frustrated and wants to help – she is human despite her initial appearance.

All three interact with one another impeccably, their relationships clearly formalised well and this gives levels to the production, feeling the real emotion and connections. The Utopian but entirely possible story line is visualised easily before our eyes and gives you a trembling feeling on inevitability; the emotions shown especially by Sethian adding to this realism.

The Messiah Complex, while only at their first run of the show, is already perfection. It has the right levels of fiction to potential fact, easily supported by the clearly skilled and full embodiment of the actors of their characters and the story. It is heartbreaking but also quite frightening in its realism. This is a play not to miss and meant for a larger stage for sure!

Festivals, Theatre, Uncategorized

Review, Acid’s Reign, Relish Theatre, Vault Festival by Hannah Goslin

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out of 5 stars (3 / 5)

I am sad that, with this likely the last Vault’s Festival, I haven’t had the chance to visit as much as previous years. But how intriguing, to come across two pieces of Queer Theatre, touching on similar themes.

Acid’s Reign is a drag show come informative theatre, highlighting in a cabaret yet theatre narrative, the impact of various pollutants on the World and how it is slowly being destroyed. When I say that there are similar themes, Queer Planet and Acid’s Reign both touch on nature and the element of same sex or a-sexual animals that is not taught in biology class. It was interesting that these were approached for different reasons, but also really great to see different genres of Theatre taking up the political and educational baton with their shows.

Acid’s Reign uses various Drag Queens and Kings to feature as representations of nature – Acid (Joshua Oakes-Rogers) themselves are the “bad guy” that faces support towards redemption, representing a younger character to highlight generational attitudes towards the environment. They are witty, funny, and time of corpse-ing or loss of lines is hilariously well managed, creating layers of comedy and enjoyment that was unintended. They want to build a series of clubs because the World is beyond repair and this is where Mother Nature, played by Son of Tutu (Everybody’s talking about Jamie, film) begins a Christmas Carol style story of different “ghosts” visiting and trying to change Acid’s mind. Son of Tutu holds the stage, certainly embodying the Mother image but also had incredible comedic effect, even in the background.

Scarlett Harlett (Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK) plays the insatiable A-shell, Queen of the Sea, with her wall-shakingly amazing singing voice and continuous innuendo, her character reminding me of a dirty old Hollywood star meets Patsy from Ab Fab. For me, she stood out the most. Maybe some as a Drag Race fan, but I also felt she really commanded the stage and was always on point, even if not at the centre of the story.

Jamie Fuxx brings some masculine energy as our Drag King, Land, bringing yet another incredible singing voice to the mix and some hilarious tongue n cheek dirtiness to the stage. They slot into the cast impeccably, adding to the cacophony of different voices and characters.

Finally, Air is represented by audio, apt in what it is represented. The characters are enveloped with this, as if air can move and embody different persons and helps to culminate the activity and story. Acid is redeemed, and along the way we have been given nuggets of educational facts, some known, some unknown, tinged with comedic effect but also clearly affecting Acid in their solemn response and over all change of heart. We equally come away entertained, but thought provoked.

Acid’s Reign has a cast of incredible talents, all with their own approach and techniques but all with incredible voices and typical comedy skills from Drag/Cabaret shows. But something was missing for me. Perhaps it was just that the show needed a clear format – is this a traditional Cabaret show, where there’s an element of improvisation and crowd inspiration. Is this a musical and therefore represented by the songs that are changed slightly for the message. Or is this a straight play, with the addition of song, trying to bring a message and sticking to a written script. There’s nothing to say that any of it needs to be put in a certain box and cannot be more than one of these things, but at times it felt like too much was trying to be achieved and so lost the spark and perfection of a fully formed production. This clear path may come as a result of many productions, of working on it over years, and we may just be at the beginning of its development.

Acid’s Reign is a brilliant show – it is funny, it is informative, it is entertaining and a feast for the eyes. However, likely still in its infant stage of production, there is so much potential for the show, with the ability to open an important theme to an ever increasing audience as Queer Theatre and Drag comes more mainstream.

Film & TV

Review, Y Sŵn, a Swnllyd/Joio/S4C film, by Gareth Williams

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out of 5 stars (4 / 5)

What a fascinating film Y Sŵn is. No sooner has its writer, Roger Williams, struck gold with cult horror Y Gwledd than his Midas touch turns to the marking of forty years of S4C with this: a striking production that is as offbeat and realist, telling the story of how the Welsh TV channel came into being. Featuring an all-star cast of Welsh natives who perfectly attune themselves to playing key public figures of the time, it successfully immerses itself in the optimism and rancour of Margaret Thatcher’s first-term as Prime Minister. Full of energy and a bursting palette of colour, it truly marks itself as a distinctly British yet uniquely Welsh film.

The aesthetic right from the get-go resembles that of Killing Eve. In big bold letters, we are introduced to CARDIFF. The year is 1979 and there is a rich seam of colour which paints a positive picture of urban Welsh life. Ceri Samuel (Lily Beau) works at the Welsh Office, taking us into a shiny Mad Men-style series of corridors and meeting rooms where we are also introduced to key players in the civil service and government. The clever contrast between the ebullient colour of the former and monochrome presentation of the latter quickly marks out the heroes and villains of the piece. It also represents the vitality and strength of a nation against a stuffy and outmoded political leadership. Other forms of pop art appear throughout to give the film a slightly off-kilter, comedic edge. This sets it apart from the more fictionalised social realism of films like Pride to become a self-referential melodrama that nevertheless manages to maintain a sense of seriousness in respect of the story it wishes to tell.

The fine balance between dramatic and comedic forms is supremely kept by the onscreen talent. Assisted by the magnificent make-up and wardrobe departments, each character stands at an acute junction between verisimilitude and caricature. Willie Whitelaw is perfectly realised in the bushy eyebrows pinned and preened on Mark Lewis-Jones’ face. Sian Reese-Williams ensures a finely-pouted, drably-accented portrait of a scruffy-haired Iron Lady. Rhodri Meilir could turn up his pristine English act no more as Welsh Secretary, Nicholas Edwards. They play the part of authority figures straight enough to make them believable whilst subtly exaggerating them to undermine the abuse of power which leads to their attempts to back down on a manifesto pledge to establish a Welsh language television channel. In contrast, Carys Eleri plays Ceri’s superior with an effervescent humour that makes her a sympathetic character. Eiry Thomas plays devoted wife Rhiannon with enough emotional heart that belies her stereotypical dress. And Rhodri Evan brings a warm smile and gentle demeanour to troubled protagonist Gwynfor Evans to ensure his battle against the political might of Downing Street and Whitehall is portrayed with sufficient weight so as not to become a trivial matter. This is an important story albeit told in a highly imaginative way.

Rhodri Evan (Gwynfor Evans) and Sian Reese-Williams (Margaret Thatcher)

Y Sŵn represents the very best of Welsh filmmaking, in both its content and production. The ending is a surprising yet interesting one, paying homage as well as subverting an oft-derided formula. Its effect is heart-warming, in such a way as to instil a sense of pride in Welsh identity, complete with self-deprecation and humour. It also speaks to the small budget with which it was made, creatively used and referenced in the 4:3 home-movie ratio. You wouldn’t know it though from its professional and glossy finish. Y Sŵn is a real labour of love which stands among the best in contemporary British cinema.

Y Sŵn is showing in selected cinemas throughout March 2023. Click here to find out more.

Reviewed by
Gareth Williams

Opera & classical

Review LSO & Barbara Hannigan, Bath Forum by James Ellis 

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out of 5 stars (4 / 5)

Whilst the Bristol Beacon might not be open as of yet, the London Symphony Orchestra is getting some time in the nearby Bath at their Forum. This Art Deco wonder was the perfect space for their event with singer/conductor Barbara Hannigan in a concert of Messiaen and Mahler. 

In Messiaen ‘L’ascension’ we get glimpses of heaven, the brass woodwind and strings getting solos for the most part just for them. Early Messiaen is full of such promise. Stravinsky is there as an influence and you can hear the original voice soon to be blasted out, very French. 

The agonising last movement remains a highlight, the strings on their own plain. My plus one said there was no reference points for him, thus proving how out their Messiaen really is, even in his early days. Dense chords and the soon to be vital birdsong features and his Catholic faith is superimposed into all of his canon. Truly impressive.

Mahler’s 4th Symphony might not be my favourite of his, yet the LSO offered a really stellar offering. I don’t quite know about Hannigan’s conducting, a singer by trade she at times appears stiff and unanimated. She appears to be doing a bang up job with the orchestra as the symphony was a triumph, the jingle bells, Austrian angst and saddened irony was everywhere here. 

An hour in length, this meaty work sits between even larger Mahler symphonies and I feel this one sometimes gets over looked. Hannigan couldn’t offer us her USP for the night, where she both sings and conducts simultaneously, due to illness. Though a shame, the ‘child in heaven’ solo for the finale was taken by Greek wonder Aphrodite Patoulidou wrapping up with the touching, joyful thrill that mirrors Mahler’s own grief. I was rightfully won over by this Mahler. 

Opera & classical

Review The Magic Flute Welsh National Opera, Cardiff Millennium Centre

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Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto: Emanuel Schikaneder

Director and English translator: Daisy Evans

Designer Loren Elstein

out of 5 stars (3 / 5)

With its contending forces of good and evil, Mozart’s sardonic fairy-tale The Magic Flute, has more than a hint of the pantomimic.  To use the words of the vernacular, Daisy Evans new production for the Welsh national Opera, sung in English with Welsh sub-title, sure does that in spades. Opera afficionados used to the more traditional – as in WNO’s much loved version last staged in 2005 – need to take a breath and prepare.

Mozart’s ‘Flute,’ first performed in Vienna in 1781, is reset by Evans into today’s world, with more than a hint of Star Wars, laser beams, fluorescent multi coloured lights et al. Not always easy to follow if you neglected to read the excellent programme notes. The connecting link which runs throughout is Schikanender’s libretto telling the story of the quest of Tamino, a Prince who sets out to find and rescue Pamina, daughter of the Queen of the Night.  Pamina has been kidnapped by the villainous Monostatos by order of Sarastro, head of a mystic cult. Encouraged by ladies of court, Tamino is helped by the magic flute and Papageno, the bird catcher who lives in a hut in the woods and whose idea of heaven is hearth and home with the girl of his dreams.  The story, with its mix of wonderful music, soaring arias, lovers’ tiffs and misunderstandings, set against a background of birdsong and mysticism, strongly references the fight between good and evil, the power of womanhood, all being brought to the fore by Evans, who has added and subtracted spoken passages in a translation that allows at times for a contemporary use of words that does not always sit well.

And thereby lies the rub, for in her endeavour to give the fairy-tale that is The Magic Flute a modern twist, Evans goes overboard. Mozart’s light-hearted touch is lost at times amidst a welter of light beams, however skilfully used and puppetry, however effectively used. Under the direction of puppeteer Matthew Forbes flocks of birds flutter intermittently around Papageno’s head.  Used throughout, this is a clever idea (although it might have been preferable to dress those manipulating the strings in black) but a tad over used – it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

Nevertheless, consisting as this opera does of some of the composer’s most memorable arias and lyrical duets, this production does still keeps much of the romance, comedy and mysticism of the original. Thanks being due in no small measure to the expertise of the orchestra of the Welsh National Opera under the baton of Freddie Brown and the admirable chorus. The latter, despite being attired in headgear similar to that of a beekeeper in the second half, is as always in fine fettle, although under used in this production. At Saturday night’s (March 11th) performance, British-born soprano April Koyejo-Audiger made her WNO debut with a pleasing soprano and good sense of timing opposite South African singer Thando Mjandana, whose melodic tenor stands him in good stead in the lyrical duets with Koyejo-Audiger. Neal Davies is a quirky Papageno who combines comedy with sympathy both for being put-upon and for his unwanted single existence.

Audiences familiar with this opera are known to wait with baited breath for the high-octave reach called for by the Queen of the Night. Lyric-dramatic coloratura Julia Sitkovetsky does not disappoint with a soaring performance in high-octave and extremely difficult solos which even the most accomplished of singers can struggle to reach.  Carmarthenshire-born Alun Rhys-Jenkins, whose specialises in tenor character roles, plays the supposedly frightening Monostatos for laughs more than terror, with a touch of the game show host at times in the role of sidekick to a far from sinister Sarastro sung by a bewigged Jonathan Lemalu with more than a touch of the Georgian gentleman.

A minimal and modernistic set is the background to an innovative and clever production. Whether or not this is a welcome addition to the multiple performances world-wide of one of Mozart’s most popular operas remains to be seen.

Snap: Less is sometimes more!

Runs until March 17th in Cardiff, then touring.

Tags: Alun Rhys-Jenkins, April Koyejo-Audiger,Cardiff, Daisy Evans, Emanuel Schikaneder, Freddie Brown, Jonathan Lemalu, Julia Sitkovetsky, Loren Elstein, Matthew Forbes, Neal Davies, Thando Mjandana, The Magic Flute, Wales Millennium Centre, Welsh National Opera, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,

Theatre

Review Sorter, Grand Ambition by Charlotte Hall

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out of 5 stars (5 / 5)

This show had a highly regarded reputation and an amazing preconception, so I had high expectations going into it.

Let me set the scene. When you enter the sold-out performance space, it’s with excitement and anticipation in the air. There are smells, and alternative pop music being played. A bus stop is in the middle of the stage, with about nine black poles dotted around it, and an electronic screen in the middle of the bus stop displaying places in Swansea and times. The screen showed drug terms and definitions before the play started, such as “chasing,” “methadone,” “tick,” “weighing and bagging,” “chasing the dragon,” and “sorter” (which I hadn’t realized until now was a drug term; it means using a drug as payment for work instead of money). This was cleverly used for setting the scene, and these were the terms the performers used in the piece. If you remembered what some of these terms meant, you could understand it when they used them in the piece. The electronic screen was also used to show captions during the performance, as Friday night’s show was one of the captioned performances.

There was an orange light from the left corner, a purple light from the right, and a blue and a green from respective sides of the bus stop before the performance started. The performers used colour so cleverly during the piece, and they had multiple magnetic lights that they would take at different points and put them on the poles to set the scene for what they were describing, as the set was minimalistic. For example, for one scene when Richard Mylan is describing “memory 3,” with a guy named Ernie and a gas fire that he, when he was younger, was getting warmth from, they took a light to that pole, and the light was a warm orangey glow like a fire, to help emphasise the scene for the audience. There were also lights behind the bus stop. An excellent example of the riveting nature of the piece is the use of seagull noises in the background, such as when Sophie Melville’s character gets a view of Mumbles. At another point, there was an electric spark and a heartbeat that kept getting faster. There are many ways in which they use lighting and sound cleverly to envelop the audience into the story.

It is very fast paced, as Richard Mylan will tell his story, and then Sophie Melville will continue with hers, and it goes back and forth throughout, so you have to try and remember what happened in each story. “Sorter” was about a nurse who got addicted to morphine, and he was a high-functioning drug addict, which is based on Richard Mylan’s (writer and actor) life. Sophie Melville played a character who was addicted to drugs, and her boyfriend was also her drug dealer. “Sorter” was an astonishing and impressive piece. It was immersive, with moments of laughter amidst the darkness, and you really felt sympathy for the characters.

It made you think retrospectively about how harshly you judge homeless people or people addicted to drugs, when many factors go into becoming addicted to something. As Sophie Melville’s character says in the piece, “they are almost impossible to get off” [paraphrased], and a lot of factors go into becoming homeless. Who are we to judge these people when they don’t get the help they need? It was eye-opening and shocking but a must-see. You had to see it in the Grand Arts Wing because you had to be in thrust and a small stage to feel close to the characters, feel sympathy for them, and understand them. Also, there were lots of references to places in Swansea, one being when Jess, Sophie Melville’s character, climbs up on the ladder behind the bus stop and talks about how “people like her don’t deserve to have such a breath-taking view of the Mumbles and Swansea, living in Mayhill” [paraphrased].

Richard Mylan and Sophie Melville are exceptional and tell the story so well that you wish you hadn’t missed it.

Dance

Pioneers, Ballet Black, Barbican Centre by Tanica Psalmist.

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Cassa Pancho is the founder & Artistic Director of Ballet Black. Upon her graduation in 2001, she gained a degree in classical ballet where her journey to found Ballet Black began, produced with the aim to provide role models for young, aspiring black and Asian dancers to feel empowered irrespective of the discrimination black ballerinas continue to experience worldwide.

Pioneers by Black Ballet, Co-commissioned & performed at the Barbican Centre is a time travelling storytelling, adventure of dance, poetry, jazz, music, passion, magic and aspiration. Featuring nine breath-taking dancers named: Jose Alves, Sayaka Ichikawa, Isabela Coracy,Mthuthuzeli November, Ebony Thomas, Alexander Fadayiro, Helga Paris-Morales, Taraja Hudson and Rosanna Lindsey.

William Tuckett, choreographer of the first section of the ‘Then Or Now, takes the audience Into an adventure of love, war, connection and human experiences. The work features poetry by Adrienne Rich (1929-2012), directed by Fiona L Bennett, with poetry recordings from Hafsah Bashir, Natasha Gordon & Michael Shaeffer. The costume designer was by Yukiko Tsukamoto. The concept of using poems was distinctive, meaningful and enchanting. The themes explored were attachment, love, hope and the journey of humanity.  During this set, we symbolically see character building, the symbolic passing objects to reflect connection and warmth in an abstract way and expressed through grandiose ballet movements of fluidity, subtle gestures, soft lifts and poetical turns.

The second half features Mthuthuzeli November’s Nina: By Whatever Means. This work embarks on storytelling the life journey of Nina Simone. Each dance piece demonstrates Nina’s zest for life, her influential messages, her spiritual nature and sound – risen from her powerful statements in the past such as; ‘An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times‘. During the beautiful melodic set of her track ‘Sinnerman’ we are exposed to how Nina worked all her life to become a black classical pianist, growing into a beautiful woman with ambition, life and depth. It was evident whilst watching that the aim of retelling Nina Simone was not to play her greatest hits but to show her fight for success, passion and reflect how she set herself for us the right way to be artists. 

It was magnifying to re-live Nina Simone showcasing her talent live in this piece of work, especially due to the impact that was well portrayed choreographically, as it foretold the feel her music had, her breath and attitude, as well as her struggles, battles and turmoil she faced, where the rest of the dancers became her inner demons, as well as her inner powers, which was moving to see.

Starting off with Baby Nina, the aim is clear that her story is to be told choreographically and not show the legacy of her life musically. Telling her story & her life journey from being young and innocent, unexpecting of non-stop worldly attacks for becoming a conscious black musician and soulful artist for humanity. The theme being loss and power, due to how black lives are forced to lose their innocence but restored again by finding and fighting back with power.

The Ballerina ‘Isabela Coracy’ who played Nina Simone quoted ‘Every night is an investigation to play Nina simone to know who she truly was, there are loads of ballets to learn and therefore, she is still discovering how to capture the details of Nina Simone through dance to reflect her sense of power correctly, especially when listening to her song ‘Sinnerman’ what it represents and the incredible burning love she had for humanity. 

Ballet Black is a safe space that evidently reopens eyes to know what it means to be an artist and acknowledge non-discrimination as a top principal, where you can think about being an artist to embark on the notion that aims to continue to normalise freedom, diversity, empowerment and love within society.

NINA: By Whatever Means: Co-commissioned by the Barbican.
Choreography: Mthuthuzeli November
Lighting: David Plater
Costume design: Jessica Cabassa
Composers: Mandisi Dyantyis, Mthuthuzeli November & Nina Simone (1954-2002) Featuring the
voices of the Zolani Youth Choir

Dance, Musical, Theatre

Review, The King and I – Venue Cymru by Richard Evans

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Venue Cymru, March 7th to 11th 2023

Rodgers & Hammerstein, based on Margaret Landon’s book Anna and the King

Howard Panter for Trafalgar Theater Productions

out of 5 stars (4.5 / 5)

“How will I know when I know everything?” “When you are King!”

This faithful production of The King and I portrays the unexpected love story between the King of Siam and a schoolteacher really well. It also draws out a series of dilemmas thrown up by a remarkable passage in history, not least the problem of how one inherits omniscience!

At its heart it is the story of two people, the King and Anna, but like much of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s work, the apparently light musical romance is rooted in political change.

For generations, each king of Siam had ultimate power within his protectorate, but the current king is now struggling to reconcile ancient rights with modern progress and the pernicious influence of western colonialism. The king is seen as barbaric, even though the show is set at the same time as the American Civil War, and only shortly after the Indian Mutiny. 

In fact this king is an educated, intelligent man trying hard to balance his autocratic power with a more considerate, conscience-driven approach.  

Opposite him is Anna, an intrepid, forthright widow employed as a teacher to the king’s children – all 67 of them. She arrives in Bangkok accompanied only by her young son, having never lived outside the British Empire. The culture shock in itself would be extreme. 

While others say what they think the king wants to hear, Anna  speaks her mind, becoming a “difficult woman” in the process. Her arrival throws up a number of clashes of culture, attitude and morality, some of which become humorous. Why did Western, Victorian women wear dresses with hoops ten feet wide?  I have no idea.  It is slightly ironic that I viewed this production on International Women’s Day, which seeks to raise the status of women worldwide today. Anna repeatedly asserts her right to be treated with dignity and equality, yet the king sees the role of a woman as merely to serve a man.  

There is therefore much to take from this story. Helen George and Darren Lee are excellent as the leads and are ably-supported by the cast, in particular the children. The score has a number of well-loved tunes, and Marienella Phillips showed her operatic voice to good effect as Tuptim, the chief narrator, a slave girl with an education and attitude.  The choice of Uncle Tom’ Cabin as a showpiece play for western visitors is a definite dig by R & H at US society.  

But there is a problem with this show in the present age: what was vital, bold and brilliant in 1951 lacks the intensity and grittiness that has become today’s standard. It has become a period piece. Some of the songs are very much of their time, and rather twee. 

But this criticism nonetheless admits the show’s classic status; it’s a rattling good story. The score may seem dated to some, but others will recognise their enduring appeal. The audience, of course, lapped it up from curtain-up and offered a sincere ovation at the end. For all its age and increasing creakiness, no one can deny its star quality.    

Festivals, Music, Theatre

Review, Queer Planet, Bi-Curious George, Vault Festival

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out of 5 stars (5 / 5)

Have you ever thought of how hetero-normative nature documentaries are. No? Bi-Curious George has, and they are here to shake the natural world.

This is a Drag King, Cabaret show like no other. Comedic, yet informative, this is a live, stage documentary with song, dance, comedy and a whole heap of camp. Think of a Queer David Attenborough meets Steve Irwin. Then triple it and add some comedy and sparkle.

George is a natural on stage. A performance of sheer perfection, we all felt as if we were their friend, as they interacted with us one by one, whether that is by audience interaction or just general eye contact. There are a many people in a room but we are all welcomed. They also made sure that everyone was comfortable – usually audience interaction is something forced upon participants, but George begins by ensuring we are comfortable at the door and then early on, giving us a signal just in case. This is a safe room and that is brilliant to impose upon within a production without taking away its essence or interrupting the discourse.

George brings us a range of factual stories of real animals, real queer relationships, intercourse, courtship and unions. But this is enhanced with songs that have been changed to fit queer narratives, with effective and, in themselves, comedic costumes and guests. The guests themselves are excellent – a singing shrimp, a almost mute magician making balloon animals from plastic bags (trust me when I say, it is something to behold, as this act was of pure genius) which add different levels and elements to the overall production, adding in the cabaret element, with George as our compere.

Queer Planet is probably one of the most genius ideas for a production I have ever seen. It is so excellently executed, with perfection as a performance, informative as a piece of education, yet at the same time, creating a easy safe and welcoming space for all with comedy, pizzazz and genius yet ridiculous concepts and costumes.