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Once we’d found our seats, there was a sense of excitement
in the atmosphere, and when you looked around the auditorium, the demographic
wasn’t your average theatre crowd, it was dad rockers, in their Iron Maiden and Meatloaf tees, and handkerchiefs tied to their jeans etc. Some 8 minutes before the
show began, the cast started drifting onto the stage, sitting on the bike that
was on stage, and the rock formation that was ever present throughout the show.
Then a flash of lights, and we’re drawn into a gripping yet, somewhat
Shakespearian beat poem. Following that, we are taken on a journey that is
mostly dictated by the lyrics of the various Meatloaf songs.
I like Meatloaf as much as the next person, but unless you’re
a die-hard fan, there's going to be an amount of songs in this show which will
be new to you, as they were to me. As for the storyline, I’m not 100% sure
what the story was, as it was a bit disjointed, but from what I worked out, it
was girl loves boy, boy loves girl, girl’s wealthy father doesn’t want girl to
be with boy. Girl runs away to be with boy, they marry, then boy kicks her out,
then, as boy states, “I would do anything for love”, and we all go home
happy....
It was somewhat confusing. As I said to my wife on the way
home from the show, it was like Peter Pan meets the Rocky Horror Picture Show meets the Blair Witch Project, accompanied by Meatloaf music. Sadly for me,
this show is a new We Will Rock You, but with music you probably don’t know.
That aside, the production was good. The cast were all great
rock singers, with an impressive range from the principals. We followed the
love story of Strat (Glenn Adamson) and Raven (Martha Kirby) whose controversial relationship tore apart the Falco (Rob Fowler) family, and tore
apart the Lost People, which in turn, tore apart their relationship. The B story
line was the rocky relationship between Falco and Sloane (Laura Johnson) who
were Raven's parents. We were shown a lot of their relationship, the raunchy
courting period (which was like a parody of Rocky Horror) all the way through to a
messy breakup, which led Johnson’s character to run away with the lost people,
but after a brief dance routine with that group, she appeared to just float
around aimlessly appearing in scenes but with no real influence on the story.
Moving on to more technical aspects of the show, the team
running the sound and lighting were truly excellent. A flawless performance
from that aspect, and Patrick Woodroffe (Lighting Designer) and Gareth Owen
(Sound Designer) have done stellar work to bring what was probably the best
light and sound display I’ve seen from a touring show. The set was interesting,
as unlike many touring shows, there was just one set, no scene changes, but
what we did get was a very definite split, stage left to stage right. Stage
left, was a grungy tunnel opening, with urban rock formations, which was the
home of the Lost People. Stage right, a high-rise block, with FALCO illuminated
at the top, which housed Raven's bedroom, which was masterfully captured by an
onstage camera person, and was projected on to a screen at the back of the
stage. This split was a very simple, yet effective way to show the difference
in class between The Lost and the Falcos.
About the bedroom scenes. This was an interesting technique,
that used a 70’s filter on a camera, which fed onto the big screen, and really
cleverly used 2-way mirrors as the windows/wall, so we could very clearly see
into the bedroom, but the camera footage showed us the mirror side, and the use
of reflections and clever angles made for a really quite impressive piece of
footage, although it was somewhat Blair Witch-esque as we were watching what
was being filmed in real time and on screen together.
The costume department had an amount of work on their hands
for this show, as tonight’s cast of 17, (20 in the company) all had a few
costume changes, which varied from police/security outfits, maids, raunchy
lingerie, to a group of 12 grungy teenagers all wearing rock and roll inspired
outfits, varying from low cut tees and patchwork denim to American football
uniforms, with bandanas a plenty. Yet all the cast seemed to look like they
belonged in this world. So, bravo to Emma Stevens and her wardrobe department.
And of course, what would a rock and roll show be without a
top notch band setting the tone from beat one of the show, and by the end of
the night, the whole house was up on their feet rocking along to the encore. So
to MD Iestyn Griffiths, and the wonderful band, keep up the great work! Although, an acting lesson or two maybe if you’re going to make a cameo appearance on
stage wouldn’t go a miss. (it was really cringeworthy).
on - 7.6.22
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