CURSES! To 26 November.
Hornchurch
CURSES!
by Julian Ronnie and Paul Miller additional material by Paul Heap
Queen’s Theatre To 26 November 2005
Tue-Sat 8pm Mat 17 & 26 Nov 2.30pm
Audio-described 26 Nov 2.30pm
BSL Signed 23 Nov
TICKETS: 01708 443333
Review: Timothy Ramsden 7 November
All good fun, dammit.
Conmen have taken over the Queen’s. Under the name ‘artistic directors’ they have purloined moderate amounts of public money, while extracting more from ‘ticket buyers’ by claiming to provide cultural experiences for people in the Hornchurch area. One of these criminals, known as ‘the Associate’ also goes by the name ‘Matt’ Devitt. But the main culprit seems undoubtedly to be Queen’s Mr Big, one Bob Carlton. They work by devious means, concealing microphones on performers’ persons or supplying them with instruments, turning actors into musicians at the drop of a cue. Another technique involves sneaking a band behind scenery, so the apparently old-as-the-hills stone wall of a castle can vanish, revealing keyboard, percussion and guitar poised to turn drama instantly into musical entertainment.
This pair’s latest operation involves a musical pillaging of The Canterville Ghost, Oscar Wilde’s amusing tale of an English wraith’s incapacity to spook American brashness, turning it into a love story infested with running gags about flatulence and stammering, and an attack on rich Americans with their junk food which ruthlessly exposes innocent audience members to inexcusable puns and severe amounts of anything from love ballads to up-tempo rock.
This is defended because the audience has a good time, as if that’s any defence in the realm of artistic experience. It’s true the sight of a very correct English butler transformed into a king (or the King, complete with pelvic gyrations) raises the roof. A lovers’ duet afflicted by the boy’s inability to hold the girl is amusing. And there are lines which, for people who collect that sort of thing, might become instant classics. As with Lord Canterville, forced into bungee-jumping, complaining how he, “got snagged by the gargoyles”. Or the confident cry that, “he may be a ghost but I can see through him.”
And there is sound plot advice for the thwarted lovers. “Next time you plan to escape, it might be better to sing a song after you’ve left,” counsels a ghost. Some chance; this lot sing songs whenever they can. They might pass it off as Art. It isn’t; just sheer entertainment.
Umney: Stuart Organ
Otis B Knight: Chris MacDonnell
Virginia: Catherine Hamilton
Mrs Knight: Allison Harding
Lord Canterville: Steve Edwin
Julian: Philip Reed
Sir Simon: Kevin Pallister
Lady Eleanor: Carol Sloman
Musicians: Scott Finlay, Nick Lashbrook
Directors: Bob Carlton/Matt Devitt
Designer: Mark Walters
Lighting: Brod Mason
Sound: Whizz
Musical Director: Carol Sloman
2005-11-09 01:46:59