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Somewhere that's green: Potty the Plant at Wiltons Music Hall

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"I'm Potty the Plant," sings a potted plant in this odd little fringe concept of a show. It's hard not to get the tune out of your head, even if the show is brief. It's an earworm for a show that features a worm-like plant as a puppet. And given the show's brevity, running at only an hour, it's hard to get too annoyed by a lack of a coherent story, even if it still seems like the show could use a bit more development (which is underway). It has made its London debut at Wilton's Music Hall. The premise is that Potty, the plant, lives in the hospital office of Dr Acula (geddit?) and dreams of a life with the cleaning lady Miss Lacey (Lucy Appleton). But Dr Acula might be responsible for why all these children are disappearing while trying to romance Miss Lacey for her family's money that she doesn't have. Three nurses are on the case, trying to solve the mystery.  If the show settled on a convincing plot, location and set of characters, it could ...

Man Overboard: The Light House @ParkTheatre


Lightness and dark are in the balance in The Light House, writer and performer Alys Williams's story about the complexity of love. It is a love story about the highs and the lows of falling in love with someone who doesn't always want to be alive. But with some deft storytelling and some inspired audience participation, the piece is an uplifting and funny tale about the joys and otherwise of being in love. After a tour of the UK, it is having its London premiere at Park Theatre as part of their Make Mine a Double season of short plays.


From the outset, Williams sets the piece's tone by calling for audience involvement to help shout "Man overboard" or blow whistles. She is a reassuring navigator, so while every show differs depending on who agrees to participate, you get the sense that you're in safe hands with her.

And that becomes the story here as well. After falling in love with a fellow acting student, how does she find a way to keep the lights on, deal with emergency rooms and long distances and live together? There may be rules and procedures for various things, but what can you do when someone you love doesn't want to be alive? A safe pair of hands is perhaps a start. 

It's a sensitively told story enhanced by an uplifting soundtrack including "Singing in the Rain" and Leonard Cohen's "Dance Me to the End of Love". If songs are the soundtracks to our lives these serve to remind us of the how much there is to life.  

Directed by Andrea Heaton, The Light House is at Park Theatre until 13 April.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


Photos: Ant Robling




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