East End Review

Tag: Hackney Empire

  • Jack and the Beanstalk, Hackney Empire, review: hilariously silly and mischievous

    The cast of Jack and the Beanstalk at Hackney Empire. Photograph: Robert Workman
    The cast of Jack and the Beanstalk at Hackney Empire. Photograph: Robert Workman

    Hackneydale is in the depths of climate change: it’s been winter there for 15 years and shows no sign of stopping. Jack’s job is to save the planet, which means defeating a lovelorn giant whose magical singing harp is feeding his gold habit, and somehow causing this meteorological mess.

    In this year’s Hackney Empire pantomime, it’s not only the beanstalk that is green. Reimagining Jack and the Beanstalk as a climate change fable is not only cleverly topical, as the ‘perpetual winter’ makes for perfect panto staging, allowing dancers dressed in silver to whiz across the stage on skates, a talking snowman from Jamaica to become an unlikely hero, and the residents of Hackneydale to cut a dash in their winter finery, replete with furry collars and brightly coloured hats and scarves.

    The likes of Clive Rowe in the cast means strong singing is almost to be expected, and with newcomer Debbie Kurup playing Jack they’ve uncovered another gem, someone who can belt out the rasping R&B of Jessie J’s ‘Flashlight’ whilst suspended in mid-air.

    Rowe himself is at his wise-cracking best as Dame Daisy Trott the milk maid, resplendent in multiple costume changes, including a cupcake dress and surreal beekeeper’s uniform.

    Clumsy Colin (Darren Hart) is another strong character, a loveable wimp whose secret love for ‘eco nerd’ Molly (Georgia Oldman) gives rise to a hilariously silly version of Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’. No corners are cut with the set and costumes, with the audience gasping as the beanstalk rises up from the middle of the stage.

    Then, in the second half, which is mostly set in the giant’s lair, we meet new characters, including Giant Blunderbore himself, played by Leon Sweeney, who skilfully tramps around the stage in a costume that must measure at least 15 feet tall.

    In the original tale Jack kills the giant, which isn’t exactly in the spirit of panto. So instead we learn the giant is a misunderstood lover whose attentions have turned to gold after being jilted by Mother Nature, the show’s Cockney fairy godmother (Julia Sutton).

    Two hours and 40 minutes might seem a touch on the long side, but the pace is unrelenting and there are no lulls in the action. Five minutes in, and we’ve already done ‘it’s behind you’ and been treated to a round of ‘oh yes it is, oh no it isn’t’.

    Writer and director Susie McKenna each year pulls a rabbit from the hat with traditional pantomimes that retain that mischievous twinkle in the eye, and this is no exception.

    The script might even be funnier than last year’s – certainly it is more daring, with rude gags involving selfie-sticks (think about it), and puns galore. One word of warning though: if you’re sitting in an aisle seat take care, unless you want to run rings around Buttercup the cow in a slapstick milking routine and be the subject of Dame Daisy’s amorous gazes. But this is panto after all, and audience members looking for a quiet evening out are probably not in the right place.

    Jack and the Beanstalk is at Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street, E8 1EJ until 3 January
    hackneyempire.co.uk

  • Mother Goose review: a dame good show at Hackney Empire!

    Clive Rowe as Mother Goose and Kat B as Billy Goose in Mother Goose at Hackney Empire. Photograph: Robert Workman
    Clive Rowe as Mother Goose and Kat B as Billy Goose in Mother Goose at Hackney Empire. Photograph: Robert Workman

    There’s a homecoming atmosphere to the Hackney Empire pantomime this year, with Clive Rowe and Sharon D. Clarke returning after a break from the annual giggle-fest.

    Rowe is regarded as one of the best dames in the business, making the title role in Mother Goose the perfect vehicle for his talents – it being the only pantomime with the dame at the centre of the tale. Set in Hackneytopia, it’s a more-complex-than-average plot featuring two warring witches who become pitched in a Faust-like battle for Mother Goose’s soul.

    A gold egg-laying goose sent to help Mother Goose only makes her “money mad”, and so a morality tale begins. Plot aside though, this is a comic caper at its core. The jokes are laid on thickly, with dancing skeletons, a rowdy kitchen scene with smashed plates, innuendo for the grown ups and one-liners aplenty.

    A huge vulture even makes a cameo for the sake of a topical gag. Rowe meanwhile is back to his boisterous best: bursting out of a pie, cheekily flirting with a terrified member of the audience, quick witted when ad-libbing and quicker still with the multiple costume changes. Writer and director Susie McKenna is wicked witch Vanity, though her high-pitched Grotbags impression is no match for Sharon D. Clarke’s effortlessly cool good witch Charity.

    Even hardened panto cynics would struggle to fault Clarke’s singing, from her sultry rendition of ‘I’m Every Woman’, to duetting with Rowe on Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy’, which had the audience in the aisles. Hats off to Stephen Edis’s score then, which eschews soppy ballads in favour of soul classics, balanced with chart toppers such as ‘Let it Go’ from Frozen.

    Clarke and Rowe may steal the show, but there are fine turns from supporting characters. Kat B as Billy Goose is the most likeable of unlikely romantic heroes, and green haired henchman Frightening Freddie (Darren Hart) received perhaps the greatest compliment of all: the character’s trademark yelp could be heard long after the curtain went down while the audience filtered out – the sign of an enjoyable night.

    Mother Goose is at Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street, E8 1EJ until 4 January
    www.hackneyempire.co.uk

  • Rudy’s Rare Records is ‘black High Fidelity’, says show’s creator

    Lt-Rt: Joseph Roberts (Musical Director), Joivan Wade (Richie), Lenny Henry (Adam), Danny Robins (Writer), Libby Watson (Designer) and Paulette Randall (Director), Press Launch Monday 23 June 2014 for Rudy's Rare Records by Danny Robins, produced by Hackney Empire and Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Directed by Paulette Randall, W
    Left to right: Joseph Roberts (Musical Director), Joivan Wade (Richie), Lenny Henry (Adam), Danny Robins (Writer), Libby Watson (Designer) and Paulette Randall (Director) at Hackney Empire

    Comedian Lenny Henry will this month be giving Hackney Empire audiences some comic relief when he stars in Rudy’s Rare Records, a Radio 4 series adapted for stage.

    The play is a comedy set in an old reggae record shop in Birmingham and features three generations of a British Jamaican family who are constantly at loggerheads.

    A live band will perform a soundtrack of classic reggae while shop owner Rudy Sharpe (Larrington Walker) and his son Adam, played by Henry, try to stop developers from flattening the shop and building a supermarket in its place.

    Lenny Henry conceived of Rudy’s Rare Records, which first aired in 2008, as a “black High Fidelity”, says Danny Robins, the show’s writer and co-creator.

    “It’s inspired by people he’d known and the record shops he’d hung out in as a kid,” he says. “I’d spent most of my mis-spent youth in record shops as well and the idea instantly clicked for me.”

    Robins does not have a Jamaican background, but being surrounded by members of the cast has given him huge insight into the country’s slang and heritage.

    “You do your research and I’ve been out to Jamaica, but just sitting around in rehearsals hearing the guys talk about their childhood is something that gives me loads of ideas.

    “In rehearsals the guys might say that’s not quite the right idiom or it’s not the right kind of slang, and the director [Paulette Randall] has this incredible encyclopedia of slang from her mother. Patois is an incredibly inventive language.”

    After four series of Rudy’s Rare Records, Robins and Henry tried to get a pilot episode commissioned for television. When that looked unlikely, they approached Susie McKenna, artistic director of Hackney Empire, about a stage version.

    “She was just instantly very enthusiastic about it and wanted to make it happen,” recalls Robins.

    But while writing the play, television executives decided to commission the pilot after all, which is due to be broadcast early next year on BBC1. It leaves Robins developing the show on two different fronts, which poses new challenges.

    “A half-hour radio sitcom is essentially a plot with lots of jokes in and there’s only so much character development you can do,” he says.

    “In a play less happens than in a sitcom episode, but the characters go on a bigger emotional journey. You want the laughs but the audience also wants to think and be moved a bit.”

    Writing a stage play also appealed to Robins because it meant tackling weightier issues. Father and son relationships are at the show’s core. Henry has described his own father as being like a copy of the Daily Mirror with arms and legs, as he never put the newspaper down long enough to talk, and Robins describes having a difficult relationship with his own dad.

    “I think for both us it was something that we wanted to explore, and certainly in the play the difficult relationships between these three generations of men is crucial.”

    The plot also revolves around the demise of the high street, the record shop’s tussle with a developer mirroring the David v. Goliath struggles waged by small businesses against larger corporations.

    “I think that’s something that will ring true with a lot of people as well,” says Robins.

    Live music will feature throughout, with songs by Desmond Dekker, Jimmy Cliff and the Sugar Hill Gang amongst others interspersed with the action.

    “I went to see The Commitments the other day and just that impact of great songs that we know in a theatre space makes your hair stand on end and has you standing up and clapping by the end. If we can achieve anything like that I’ll be pleased.”

    Rudy’s Rare Records is at Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street, E8 1EJ from 24 September – 5 October

  • Hackney Empire cafe reopens as the latest food and music venture by Platterform

    Revamped Hackney Empire cafe is now
    The Hackney Empire cafe has been revamped

    Did you like the Skylodge pop-up over by London Fields before Christmas? And the Sea Adventure dining experience? If so you’re going to love immersive food and music crew Platterform’s latest venture.

    After a succession of temporary installations the creative collective is setting up shop permanently – in Hackney Empire’s cafe no less – with an exotic new venue called Stage 3.

    From 12-course Indonesian feasts and art installations to Tai-chi masters, bands and DJs, Stage 3 promises to be an ambitious affair, with the usual cocktails, craft beers and food, only this time the emphasis is on music.

    The team is collaborating with a network of local artists, musicians and DJs for a programme of live performances this summer. Director Jules Bayuni says: “This is Hackney’s cultural quarter – with the museum, the cinema and the theatre. We’re the missing puzzle piece: music.”

    Inside, it’s a nod to both the building’s thespian history and Bayuni’s Indonesian heritage, with beautiful tropical prints patterning the walls and brightly-coloured puppet masks strung up over the bar.
    So what can we expect? Thursdays will be supper club night up on the mezzanine floor, with a different theme each week – ranging from French Creole to New Orleans to Caribbean nights.

    “The food is what we’ve collectively grown up on – it’s our soul food,” says Bayuni. Fridays will see art collectives like Unity take over the walls and DJ decks, Saturday is for more partying and Sunday is for hangovers, when you can drag yourself down for a day of healing or hedonism –the choice is yours.

    You’ll be able to pick from detox and retox cocktails, gorge on oriental-style duck and pork roasts and even take part in some tai-chi to restore the natural order after a heavy night. Sounds like you’re in safe hands.
    Watch out for updates about what’s on each week, it’s already looking excellent and this imaginative bunch have plenty of surprises up their sleeves.

    Stage 3
    Hackney Empire
    291 Mare Street, E8 1EJ