Return To The Forbidden Planet

The opening scene, the bridge of the starship Albatross, was quite beautiful, comprising physical set, projection and lovely blue downlighters. Smoke/haze was used discreetly and well throughout the show. Good props…monitors, keyboards and captain’s chair stood up to a lot of battering.

Other projections were well designed. Loved the irony of the out-of-sync Prospero video and the monster video riddled with interference.

James Hall’s band gave a fine sound throughout the show. The singing needed to be louder at times to match them. Christie Wright put the cast through their paces. The dancing to the opening number (Wipe Out, Albatross) was nicely imagined.

Costumes were colourful and varied…although Prospero’s outfit was perhaps more appropriate to steam trains than starships. Much praise goes to wardrobers: Joan Cannell and Rita Anderson. Their hand-crafted monster tentacles were superb; and obviously the result of a lot of hard work.

The show opened with the Damage Control Crew giving a lengthy introduction to the ship and the story. A fun Star Wars knockoff continued to set the scene; and then entered the motley crew, who took up their positions at the back of the stage.

Newscaster Kevin King literally phoned in his performances. They were wonderfully relaxed soliloquys from his sun lounge, attracting the affectionate attention of his pot plants.

The story is an adaptation of an adaptation of The Tempest; and so it wasn’t surprising that the script consisted largely of a pastiche of Shakespeare quotations. It was great fun to try and match each with its original play, but some cast members seemed a bit overwhelmed by the language…resulting in stiff posture and chanted lines.

Ben Miles (as Captain Tempest) gave fine renditions of Good Vibrations and then Young Girl, supported  by Miranda and Cookie. Lucie-Mae Cooper’s Miranda was super cute, sang an exquisite Teenager in Love, morphed into a sexy vamp and then a great Hey Mr Spaceman… accompanied by an attractive dance. She and Tempest duetted in a lovely Young Man.

Steve Dorsett dominated in a strong performance as Doctor Prospero, belting out numbers like Misunderstood, Monster Mash and then Shaking all Over, along with Tempest and Miranda.

Emma White was lively and authoritative as Bosun. She displayed great energy in her interactions; and sang a good Yeh Yeh with Cookie. Andy Cox played Cookie with fine physical comedy and a naturalistic approach to the dialogue. He sang a glorious She’s Not There as well as Shake, Rattle and Roll and Only the Lonely.

Heike Heath was the perfect android, Ariel…alien and funny. She manoeuvred slickly on her roller skates and performed a comic Who’s Sorry Now ? Rebecca Wilkes was a very enthusiastic Navigation Officer, in crisis mode the whole time. Anne Crow’s Science Officer/Gloria was devious and driven. She gamely faced off her ex, Prospero, and gave a very good Go Now.

The company were up there dancing and singing along to the ensemble numbers like Great Balls of Fire and Gloria.

The finale and encore were madly infectious; and we ALL sang along to Doo Wah Diddy Diddy.

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