BRAVE is the company which mid-run invites a critical second look.
Standards can, and do, slip. Casts change, especially in musicals, and
competence cannot replace star quality. Bob Carlton's Shakespearean
spoof rock musical escapes any such strictures, partly because it has no
stars, merely one of those multi-talented casts who seem able to do
everything -- play trumpets, drums, saxophones and guitars, sing and
act.
It is a marriage between Star Trek and the Tempest, stuffed with
Shakespearean quotations from pretty well every one of the Bard's
greatest moments set to some of the greatest rock numbers, from Shake
Rattle and Roll by way of A Teenager in Love to Great Balls of Fire, as
well as one or two lesser pieces like The Young Ones.
The result is hilarious, and while parents can enjoy the literary
jokes, there is something for everyone, including special cushions for
the under fives handed out by the cast who go on a pre-performance
rampage round the auditorium. John Ashby makes a virile, pipe-smoking,
square-jawed dolt as Captain Tempest, whose clapped-out starship lands
on Dr Prospero's planet, where he finds true love with the Doctor's
daughter, Miranda.
Other delights include Ariel, a roller-skating robot, played with zest
by Craig Thornber; and a lovelorn cook, Matthew Devitt, who does the
decent thing and lets the captain have Miranda. A planet for all the
family to keep going back to, and that rarity, a show which had the
audience on its feet at the end cheering.
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