The Shakespeare Revue at the Richmond Theatre
Alan Long gives The Shakespeare Revue a whopping 5 stars after a very funny, entertaining show.
In an hour and a half of song, dance and mime, mostly comic but with some poignant touches, the four players – two men, two women – and their pianist/musical director, whirl through over thirty sketches, each of which highlight some aspect of Shakespeare and our complex relationship with him and his work.
Most of the pieces are irreverent and affectionate – poke fun at characters (Hamlet for his solemnity and self-absorption – The Moody Dane) or theatre directors for over-serious and pretentious treatments (Shakespeare Masterclass) or actors in repertory mixing up plays and characters (‘If this is Tuesday it must be Romeo & Juliet so why is Juliet on her balcony doing Lady MacBeth?’) or suggest variations in tone or outcome (instead of demanding his pound of flesh, Shylock sings sweetly to his mortal enemy: ‘Oh, oh Antonio …’).
We get glimpses of Shakespeare in opera and in music hall (which includes a moment of Flanagan & Allen doing their Underneath the Arches swaying shuffle dance with words adapted to the Shakespeare theme – lasting only a minute or two but instantly recognisable, magical and charming. There is a song about fairies in Shakespeare (Away with the Fairies) and a piece about Falstaff’s women (Ladies of London).
Some of the songs are famous and familiar – Brush Up Your Shakespeare and Let’s Do It – many others are fresh and surprising with clever and topical references to celebrities ("Victoria Beckham could play Yorick" – indicating the skull – "but she would have to put on some weight") and links to current political goings on – Corbyn, Hillary, Trump and Brexit are all somehow worked in.
The funniest and most crowd pleasing piece, The English Lesson, is a song and mime routine, performed with teasing mischief, gusto and richly exaggerated French accents by Lizzie Bea and Anna Stoli, which involves naming and pointing in rapid succession to each of their own body parts, starting with the external and innocent and climaxing with the concealed and intimate. The audience is cajoled into a competitive singalong – one half of the auditorium against the other – all of which excites a great party atmosphere.
The work presented is gathered from numerous diverse sources, widely separated in time, place and inspiration – from Cole Porter, Noel Coward and Stephen Sondheim to Monty Python, Alan Bennet and Stephen Fry, together with many others all linked together under the predominant influence of the Bard himself. Although the elements of the show are created separately by so many different writers and composers, it is a coherent, convincing and satisfying whole, made so by the skill, energy and great comic timing of the performers.
The players are relaxed and enjoy themselves, and the audience feels engaged and involved. Much of the humour is laugh out loud, but often it is gently witty and allusive, just twigged as it flashes by, its cleverness caught and appreciated in the moment. Lovely entertainment throughout.
For tickets visit atgtickets.com
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