Avenue Q

If anyone has never seen Avenue Q, I would urge you to see it as soon as possible, it is a fun packed show which includes some really great numbers and characters, and this production certainly did it justice in my eyes.

This continues the usual story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl and then they get back together for a good ending, the difference in this show is that it is told through the eyes of puppets.

The entire group of youngsters operating the puppets did a brilliant job of not only getting into their own characters but also remembering they had an extension, in the form of the puppet which also had to have life and never once did I see anyone falter in this task.

There were some really great performances from Joe Hill as Princeton who falls in love with Kate Monster played by Ellice Osborne, both managed to get all the pathos and emotions from their respective parts as well as the humour to give a very convincing performance from both themselves and their puppet characters.

I particularly enjoyed the performance from Owen Clayton as Rod, he had plenty of very funny lines to deliver which he did perfectly, as well as the sadness when he loses his best friend Nicky played by Steve Maycock, again giving a good performance.

Two of the characters who did not involve a puppet partner were Christmas Eve, played expertly by Bethan Griffiths and Gary Coleman, played by Sam Shirtliffe; both were able to bring the parts to life both in their singing and acting performances.

There was also a Trekkie Monster who appeared in the form of the well know Honey Monster from the cereal advert, this was a larger than life character calling for not one but two actor/puppeteers, Brad Thornton and Eleanor Hewitt who not only had to operate the Monster but had to work in perfect tandem to make it look effective.

A brilliant performance from all involved many congratulations, especially as they were only able to work with the actual puppets for one week before the actual show.

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