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The brown word: Death on the Throne @gatehouselondon

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We’re warned at the start of the show with an upbeat number that this is not the usual sort of musical. And it turns out to be just that. But with boundless enthusiasm and energy from its two leads, who deploy a range of voices and breathtaking energy to create a series of voices for puppet characters, a bedtime story becomes a silly oddball tale about four souls stuck in purgatory. With puppets. And various toilet humour references. It’s currently playing at Upstairs At The Gatehouse . The piece starts as a bedtime story. Daddy (Mark Underwood) is about to read a bedtime story for Louise (Sarah Louise Hughes). But her stomach felt funny, and soon, she went to the bathroom. Then, for reasons that seem to only make sense in the confines of the show, they start telling the story of four people who died in unfortunate circumstances in the bathroom. Depicted as puppets, they’re stuck in purgatory as St Peter doesn’t have enough space for each of them in the afterlife. And so begins a puppe...

Theatre: Elaine Stritch at Liberty



I thought it might have been anti-climactic to finally see Elaine Stritch at Liberty, which is on a limited return run at the Shaw theatre. I have had the album of the show for about many years, and the DVD of it too. But to see it live... Well... That was still something else... Ok so the show is a tightly scripted piece of work, but it also is the gold standard now for solo shows; self critical, great anecdotes (including the above one about working with Ethel Merman) and hilariously bitchy... It was worth seeing the 82 year old broad in tights belt out songs and show how a real pro does it... And she does it for two-and-a-half hours.

Going with Mark was interesting as (unlike me), he was well aware of Stritch from her television work in the UK, but normally we have totally different taste in theatre. He hated Sunday in the Park with George for instance and has taunted me about it ever since. So I was surprised that he was speechless at intermission, and it wasn't just because he had been sitting in the theatre for ninety minutes without a cigarette...

For me, being so familiar with the work it was almost tempting to want to help prompt her with "Agnes De Mille!" while she was struggling with the name of who choreographed the musical Goldilocks... I left the audience participation to others however... My only quibble with the show was the fat queen behind me who decided that "Why do the Wrong People Travel?" from Sail Away was a sing-along... That's the trouble with these shows... It isn't the performers but the audience you have to be wary of...

Stritch had an afternoon session today with Elaine Paige as well which surely must have been fascinating to have witnessed and hopefully somebody has blogged about it. Stritch's show runs through to Sunday at the Shaw... And it is worth seeing more than just once...

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Play ball: Damn Yankees @LandorTheatre

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