Theatre Bath Review
"Magnificent foolery"REVIEW: 5 Stars – DR LIVINGSTONE, I PRESUME? – RONDO THEATRE
January 30, 2015
This is an unparalleled display of thespian artistry in which the Ffitch Repertory Players, led by the estimable Mr Julius Stentorian Ffitch and his impressively accomplished wife Mrs Sylvia Thespis Ffitch, aims to bring to life on the theatrical stage the exploits of the intrepid Dr Livingstone, and the quest of the equally audacious Mr Stanley to find him in the depths of darkest Africa.
Using the up-to-the minute techniques of terpsichorean interpretation (dancing, for the uneducated), musical interludes of surpassing beauty, and moving dioramas of astonishing technical complexity, not to mention the wonders of the newly invented Magic Lantern, it is a spectacle which cannot but delight , amaze, and enlighten all who witness it.
Alright, it’s really a mock-Victorian send-up of all things to do with that era, the British Empah, and the old fashioned Music Hall, presented by Miracle Theatre company, with a cast of just four multi-skilled actor-musicians. And it’s probably the funniest one of its kind you are ever liable to see. With its smooth-tongued and sardonic Master of Ceremonies becoming increasingly snide and vitriolic as he drinks his way through the performance; with impossibly ludicrous ‘interpretive dance’ sequences; lunatic costumes worthy of Salvador Dali; puppetry and ventriloquy which breaks all boundaries of good sense; and songs of ever more appealing daftness, this is an evening of non-stop comic invention which reaches heights of theatrical idiocy nearing hysteria; its audience hooting and gasping from start to finish. Magnificent foolery at the top of its game, by a company of experts.
***** (5 Stars)
John Christopher Wood
