Performed by Kitchen Zoo Theatre Company at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne's Northern Stage theatre, this was the first fully online show produced by Northern Stage, and was devised by Mark Calvert, Hannah Goudie-Hunter, Bob Nicholson, and Laura Lindow. It was directed by Mark Calvert and the script was by Laura Lindow.
The show was performed in the style of a Victorian Music Hall routine, with the premise being that two scoundrels and con-artists, Scarper and Chase, [puns that went way over the youngsters' heads], would perform for us, their comedic entertainment - thus giving us a stage within a stage / play within a play idea. However the boundaries between storytelling and actually telling the story were so blurred it mattered not that that was how it began.
The production started very slowly with a most uninspiring opening, not engaging the online audience at all, taking much too long for them to 'get into their stride'. The pace only started to pick up and things start to become more visually interesting with the entrance of the King. I do believe the production would have benefitted in general from more actors and more singing / dancing to help it move along. There are far more peripheral distractions - especially for youngsters - when watching something on a screen than in a theatre, and so a different style of acting and engaging is required. The Victorian Music Hall idea worked for me - but I am in my 50s! - it simply fell flat on my nephew and niece, since they didn't understand nor have had any grounding in this form of theatrical presentation.. and the songs were not upbeat and modern either, and so sadly, their attention was lost very early on, and it didn't come back. The comedy was not overt or obvious enough to make them laugh either unfortunately.
For myself, I failed to understand the reason for a fey King Shirley and his love of wearing female clothing etc.. Was this a deliberate attempt at inclusiveness or a specific LGBT theme which I missed. It was not clear, and I found it unnecessary, for it added nothing to the story nor gave the story a different slant / meaning. There wasn't even the "Shirley you can't be serious" joke which would have gone some way to ameliorate the name and character choice.
I enjoyed the use of puppetry. The dog was mildly funny but again, not obvious and different enough; whilst the maid, 'Mouse' (why call her 'Mouse'??) had a lovely solo song and a great change of mood, but it was too little too late for my niece who had already stopped watching long before then.
There were certainly some very nice ideas within the piece, and things which a filmed version of a story can highlight in a way theatre can't by zooming in or focussing on something we, as a theatre audience, might have missed, and the four cast members certainly played their roles with earnestness working well together. Unfortunately however, my family 'bubble' were unimpressed by a rather bland and unexpectional production.
Reviewer - Chris Benchley
on - 12/12/20
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