ALYX HOLCOMBE

MY REVIEW

A fantastic revival of ‘Kiss Me Kate’ directed by Trevor Nunn with an amazing array of talent, costumes and scenery.

The acting was impeccable to the point where I thought I was watching ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ instead of ‘Kiss Me Kate’ at some points. Was extremely clever how they changed characters so well. I love the way that ‘Kate’ was playing her character in ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ then when she found out that Fred didn’t want to get back with her it was obvious what lines in ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ she changed. I thought it was very effective and created humour within the piece.

My favourite song within this performance was ‘Too Darn Hot’. Electrifying energy come from Jason Pennycooke, perfect opening for the second act. The only criticism I would have about the singing in ‘Kiss Me Kate’ would be ‘Brush up your Shakespeare’. Most of the comedic lines were lost as their diction was not clear enough, it took me a while whilst listening to the song to notice how many puns there were in it. The acting from the two gangsters nevertheless was ‘on point’. Their comedic timing was brilliant and made the whole audience chuckle.

Aside from the faultless acting and incredible singing ability, the scenery was astounding. Such incredible set changes and minimal black outs which I thought was unbelievably clever. The tree that appeared during the finale was magnificent. The scenery was only made out of simple cloth, but I think this is what made the show even more impressive. It shows that you don’t need to spend thousands of scenery when you have actors who are more than capable to pull the show off.

The only let down if you’re a dance critic is that Adam Garcia was tapping to a click track. As I gathered most people were expecting an incredible live performance from Adam Garcia, although I think he is a very talented individual I think the theatre viewers maybe were expecting a little too much considering he isn’t one of the main characters. Saying that, the tap dancers themselves were flawless and were very in sync with each other. Clearly well rehearsed.

Although the show is quite lengthy for a musical (near three hours in length) the high energy, vibrant, comedic cast manage to make time fly by creating such an incredible piece of theatre. Definitely a must see for any theatre lover.