Avenue Q

Firstly I must say it was impressive to see a full foyer for this the first of two performances on the day.   This show has proved a roaring success for the company as it has sold more seats than any other production in their history.  Avenue Q is a bit of a cult show and it was good to see lots of people in the theatre who may not be regular attendees.  Hopefully they enjoyed the show and will continue to come to productions in the theatre.

At the beginning of the show I was fascinated to watch the Actor/Puppeteers working and it wasn’t long before the puppet and the person became one performer.  Even when the puppet required two operators, the overall impression was of a single character.  Congratulations to all the cast who brought the puppets to life, they did a splendid job.

To be honest I cannot single out any one performer above the others, they performed as an ensemble and it worked.    I want to credit all the Principals but I am not sure whether to comment on the puppet or the performer!   Princeton/Jamie Redgate played the young man, fresh out of college and trying to find his way in life.  Kate Monster/Laura Harper was delightful and suitably stroppy when required.   Rod/Kane Davis and Nicky/Darren Harper were the ‘couple’ who weren’t a couple, Rod being a closet homosexual and Nicky being, well I don’t think he knew, so how could we?  Lucy The Slut/Louise Strachan was the sexy siren and Trekkie Monster/Julian Cottee completed the group of principals.

Sharon Allwright (Christmas Eve) Tim Cater (Brian) and Lashanna Levine (Gary) were the human performers, all of whom ably supported the main action and made the whole puppet thing believable.   Other parts were played by John Latchford and Gemma Carracher (Bad Idea Bears) great characterisation.  Claire Wilson (Mrs T) Lianne Larthe and Victoria Tewes (2 right hand women!) with Simon Bristoe, Chris Jolly and Chris Lidgard supporting.

The band was a little too loud during some of the songs and under some of the dialogue, to the extent that I was struggling to hear for some of the time.  The standing set worked extremely well and the costumes worked to put the puppeteers in the background and bringing the puppets to the fore.  I would have like to have seen a little more uniformity in what the actors were wearing.  The two female leads wore similar grey dresses which worked for me but the rest wore a ragbag of mixed black and grey which was, to a degree, distracting.

I have to say that this show is not my thing, I found the gratuitous swearing and simulated sex scenes uncomfortable to watch but I do recognise that I am in the minority and that the majority of the audience loved every minute of the show.  My discomfort does not detract in any way from what was another excellent performance from the Little Theatre Company.

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