“Mojo” was originally a 1995 play written by Jez Butterworth – a black comedy set in the 1950's based around the dance scene of Soho in London. However, this production of the play is based around the 1990's club scene in Manchester – an interesting twist on the original.
During the 1990's Manchester was a gangland scene as rival clubs battled against each other, mostly controlled by various factions or gangs – and of course this saw the rise of the drug scene in the city not unlike London during the 1950s. It is easy to see the logic of updating this production and in simple terms, it just works.
The play opened at the Atlantic Club and we meet Potts (Paul Jennings) and Sweets (Leigh Manning) as they talked about the good times returning to the city. Things are on the up and they are definitely in the heart of the action as they helped put local singer / dancer Silver Johnny (Edrine Spencer) into the spotlight. We also met Skinny (Oliver Baines) and Baby (Scott Harrison) who are very much part of the scene.
Things take a turn to the more sinister when Mickey (Miles Mooney) informs the gang that the club owner, who also happens to be Baby’s father, has been murdered and is in the bins outside the club. Silver Johnny is also missing which forces the gang to lay low in the club and defend their territory, although this is not how things play out as tensions run high and personal vendettas are very much part of the plotline.
“Mojo” is very much a dark comedy of the darkest kind. It is about the battle of supremacy in the underworld of Manchesterandt is packed full of sparkling dialogue and one-liners that could easily be taken from the original script. It has an amazing soundtrack from the '90s with New Order and Happy Mondays featured throughout – that in itself was enough to keep many of the packed audience at The Met very happy.
It’s hard to pick out any of the performers individually as I thought they all did an excellent job, they seem to just work together so well and the on stage chemistry is very evident – this group could easily have been working together for several years.
Overall I think this production of “Mojo” is a very entertaining evening and the Hive Award is very well deserved. The plotline is extremely engaging and has the audience on the edge of their seats throughout – right until the end.
Reviewer - John Fish
on - 1/7/19
No comments:
Post a Comment