Friday 26 November 2021

THEATRE REVIEW: The Bolds - Unicorn Theatre, London.


What a treat it was to be at 'The Bolds'. The Unicorn Theatre sits within a five minute walk of London Bridge Station and is a theatre dedicated to showcasing children’s productions. 'The Bolds' is the first production to take place since the theatre has reopened.

This performance was the first evening performance to take place in the run up to Christmas. If you are looking for a pantomime type of show – this isn’t it, 'The Bolds' is so much better. It is hilariously funny with one-liners for the children and for the adults. When I arrived there were a lot of excited children waiting to go in to watch the show all wearing their animal ears! After all we have lots of animals living in disguise everywhere.

'The Bolds' is based on the book written by Julian Clary, and has been adapted for the stage with songs written by Julian Clary and Simon Wallace. It is riotous fun as you would expect from the exuberant Mr Clary. He has even lent his voice to introductions and at stages during the show. There is a modern world undertone of being outsiders and trying to fit in and being accepted within their new community. How many hyenas do we know living in disguise in a suburban house in Teddington? Mr and Mrs Bold disguise themselves and fly from Tanzania to London taking on their new personas. Remember these are laughing hyenas so Mr Bold finds a job writing Christmas Cracker jokes in order to pay the bills. David Ahmad (Mr Bold) was brilliant – one after another, corny jokes from beginning to end. Instead of 'he’s behind you', we had the repeating of the joke before Mr Bold gave us the punchline. The arrangement of seats at the Unicorn meant that all children did not struggle to see the performance from where they were sitting. Mrs Bold (Amanda Gordon) was the linchpin that held the story and family together.

Mr and Mrs Bold, in time, where greeted by he arrival of their twins Bobby and Betty, who had to keep the secret that they were hyenas by tucking their tails in at school. It was at school that they met Minnie (Charity Bedu-Addo) who found out about their tails and inevitably about their real identity.  All was happy in the house apart from the angry Mr McNumpty (Sam Pay) who lived next door. At every opportunity he was watching the Bolds and listening to what was going on. He was like a bear with a sore head.

As the children were born in London they had never seen wild animals so they went off on a trip to the safari park. Hyenas actually driving a car! It was here they decided to embark on an adventure to free Tony, an elderly hyena who was in line for being put to sleep. This echoes of our current age concern about what value do the elderly have? Anyway, Tony (Jon Trenchard) was the one who wins Mr McNumpty round and everyone lives happily ever after in Teddington.

A great star performance by all the actors, a diverse company that relates to the audience and filled with jokes, songs and dancing. The children were interacting and joining in. As a teacher it was a pleasure to see the utter enjoyment on their faces and I am sure for many of the children this was their first time at the theatre. Well done Unicorn for tapping into the audience and for working with schools to develop a love of acting, performing and watching a live show. 

Reviewer - Penny Curran
on - 24.11.21


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