Sarah Millican @ Hammersmith (10 Nov)

Having seen her on TV, it was generally agreed that it would be good to see her live.  Our daughter duly obliged and booked some tickets.  So off to Hammersmith we went.  The theatre itself started it's life as a 1930's cinema.  It's been through a lot, no doubt, but is now in need of a facelift.  I do hope they remove the fly-paper floor coverings from beneath the seats.
Sarah starts slowly.  I was beginning to wonder when she would really get going, but get going she does.  By the time the interval arrived I'd all but forgotten the slow start.  The second half started as the first ended.
Her subjects are relationships and bodily functions.  Many of the jokes would keep an eight year old boy amused, but also work well with adults.  She is different from her TV appearance character.  The jokes are cruder, sometimes with a yuk factor thrown in.  Most notably there is prolific swearing.  She says she likes to swear.  Personally, I don't care what she likes - what she does needs to be funny, that's why I came to see her.  Swearing is NOT funny in its own right.  With one or two exceptions it did not enhance the comedy at all - so should probably be left out.  Especially in the second half there is a degree of audience interaction.  This leads some of the more outgoing ones (drunk ones?) to think they can take on the comic.  It really doesn't matter how she deals with this, insults, tirades etc all enhance the show - the audience in general is very much on her side, but the clever building of jokes against them is by far the best and really enhances the show.  We had one excellent example of that.
So, if you don't mind the subjects and the style you will find the shows very funny.  I'm glad I went, it was an enjoyable evening.

Bill Bailey - Tinsel Worm (Tuesday 2 December 2008)

It's only just Advent, but Christmas is already here, and I've had my first Christmas present already. A Tinsel Worm - a present from Liz. I've enjoyed watching Bill on TV in programs like QI, and his 'Part Troll' show, again on TV. So as I arrived a Liverpool street for the short journey to Tottenham Court Road Tube Station, I was unaware that the Primary Gifting Season had already started, but was very much looking forward to seeing Bill. So as we took our seats on the Grand circle in the Gielgud Theatre the sense of anticipation was rising. I decided to try to remember some of the lines from the start. The drinks in the bar were at London Theatre prices, and the staff had London theatre attitudes, and would not chat. Still I was not going to let that put me off - nothing unexpected there.
Bill was a little late on stage, but as the theatre was full he was only waiting for people to be seated.
The laughter started right from the first minute. All hope of remembering the steam of stories and asides was gone, for fear of missing the next one. Bill does interact with his audience, but he does not pick on people - which is a good thing. I'd hate to go to a show and end up as the stooge. He also doesn't swear, well not in his act anyway. Again that is good. Constant bad language actually detracts from what is said.
Here are one or two of the bits I do remember. In a stream on evolution and creationism that followed some musings on the American Election, Bill stated his case and praised Darwin. "Barnacles" - a piece of interaction - we all got to say it. Darwin was apparently the worlds expert when he lived. Towards the end of this he says "Thank God for Darwin that's all I can say". There's a pause, the sound of laughter has stopped, and then starts again. Bills response in a very broad Devonshire accent "I hears it ... ... ... I thinks about it ... ... ... I laughs". That didn't need a pause - the reaction was instantaneous. Was that an ad-lib, a planned ad-lib, or part of the script. After a piece where he ended up under the carpet on the stage, he was heard to say "What am I doing?" - another ad-lib?
The "Primary Gifting Season" is from a piece about marketing, and is jargon for Christmas (if you haven't thought about that yet).
After the intermission there was a piece on philosophy where Bill interacted with a video of himselves. It was very clever and well timed, but required a little more thought than the rest of the show. The laughter was diminished, but not for long. At the end there were a couple of songs, one I'd heard before.
There are plenty of stolen clips on You Tube if you'd like a preview. It is a very good show, and was an excellent evening out - Thanks Liz.

SPAMALOT

http://www.montypythonsspamalot.com/

Monty Python's Spamalot garnered14Tony nominations, the most of any show this season

And no surprise there .....

Remember Monty Python and the Holy Grail, well this is a rip-off of that well loved film, but as it’s a musical you will find some songs that you might not normally associate with THIS film. “Always look on the bright side of life” is perhaps the most famous python song, and is slotted in very nicely to the show. From the very start its python – the announcer sets the scene 1192 England and the next song is Finland. No live moose are hurt in this production of course. We move through many of the memorable scenes “I’m not dead yet” a new song (a slogan on T-shirts after the show), with dancing corpses, and a very realistic looking spade, used very effectively to solve the aforementioned problem. The Swallows, the Taunting Frenchmen, anarcho-syndicalist commune with the watery tart throwing swords to people. “but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!” She may not provide the basis of a system of government, but she is certainly now the love interest. She is also very upset about not being in enough scenes. Sadly the witch burning was too expensive and was cancelled. There are some nice twists, as times have changed since the original, and some very nice new and extremely non-PC songs and jokes. I won’t include them here as I don’t want to spoil the show for others. The original mix of 1192 and 1974, is maintained, but in a different way appropriate to the setting and times. The black knight, the knights who say “Ni!”, brave Sir Robin, the ‘rescue’ of Herbert Prince of the Swamp, and Tim the enchanter (watch him fly – Harry Potter eat your heart out) are all there, but not the bridge of death, because the clue protected by the killer rabbit is quite different.

It all fits together very well, and the cast are very professional and deliver an excellent show.

There were killer rabbit glove puppets on sale at the end of the show!!

A highly enjoyable night, even if we were above the display of the words for the sing-a-long part of the evening, way way up in the balcony. If you’re a python fan – don’t miss it! If you're not don't go near it!

Now back to the Majestic Moose .....