BEAUTY AND THE BITCH.

London

WHITE KNIGHT LIGHTS WHITE BEAR.

At 4 hours' notice Reviewsgate.com contributor Hugh Allison was called in to Kennington's enterprising White Bear theatre to light their Christmas show. Here's his view from the control-box:Beauty And The Bitch, principally written and performed by Katy Darby & Dave Key-Pugh, is an exceptionally enjoyable evening. There are jokes and banter galore (and even a costume change) but the highlight has to be the singing.

The songs range from subjects as mundane as goatee beards or shirts, to important issues such as anorexia or "homosexual Necrophilia". The audience is encouraged to show any protests they may have by laughing as hard as possible - certainly, if you are easily offended, Beauty And The Bitch would not be the show for you.

But, for anyone who enjoys bad taste (and, be honest, you do), go along to see this show when it is next on, and have the evening of your life.

The highlight for me was "80s Movie", a song which has been "synthed like nothing has ever been synthed before". It is one of the politer songs of the evening, one which, in her introduction, Darby explains as being about an important period in her life. It has references to films such as The Blues Brothers and Pretty In Pink, as well as products that one may well have forgotton about by now, such as "Orange Ki-ora".

The whole of a decade in one three minute number, sums up the talent in the show, that is well hidden in songs about "that feeling when you recognise someone at a party and you're not entirely sure if you've had sex with them".

The three Guest Stars did interesting turns too; Andrea Law was born to sing "Humility Blues" in which she tries to deny her vanity, and ends up doing the complete opposite. Stephen Lanigan-O'Keeffe sang a heartwarming song, with his magnificent voice, and Luke Bateman surprised me with his talents on a musical instrument. The kazoo.

Law and Darby also had a character driven duet, "Only Happy When She Fails", about the former marrying the latter's ex-boyfriend. The whole cast only did two songs together, a festive Christmas number and an officially-unwritten encore. (You'll understand that when you see the show).

All in all, it was funny, filthy, in bad taste, and surprisingly short. The audience wanted more encores than the cast had available (my sources tell me more songs may be available for future shows) and a great time was had by all.

2004-01-08 11:25:04