What is it? A play? No. A concert? Partly. A musical? Not that you’d recognise. An experience? Definitely.
As you walk in, the glorious set is striking with its twisted Wonderland; everything off kilter, everything a little exaggerated, a fitting preparation for the show. However, in a show that aims to shock, the performances lack the confidence and commitment to be really shocking.
The audience has to listen carefully to the tortuous, scatological dialogue and lyrics, a curious mix of bizarre and banal. In the first half the dialogue has a strange, disturbing poetry which is a challenge to grasp – cruel, filthy and bitchy mixed in with mundane and matter of fact. Before you have time to absorb it, we’re into songs which continue the unsettling lyrics with beautiful music. The second half dialogue is in a different key, more accessible with topical references but which disappoints just as we were becoming attuned to the dystopian tenor.
The actors fail to claim ownership of a space which suggests Alice down the rabbit hole on acid, and their reticence gives us lemon sherbet instead. For me, the echo was overused – my favourite moment was the final song which did without much amplification and let the voices sing out. Using recorded voiceovers may be the Director’s choice to alienate Torsten, but it results in a suspicion that Andy bell did not learn the lines. Peter Straker cannot be forgiven for reading most of his second half lines – and not even reading them with gusto!
It seemed that the actors were still trying on their characters and not yet inhabiting them with the nonchalance which would let them and us indulge in their excess. Andy Bell maintains Torsten’s distance from reality effectively and really shows class when he sings. Lana P relishes her character’s determination to shock and Peter Straker shows glimpses of the aging roué which will be disturbing yet charming when he is more solid with the role. This show is a challenge to the audience and unfortunately still is a challenge to the cast. When they can relax with confidence into their world, they will meet the challenge and may change the shock to awe.
