culturebean: December 2016

Culturebean says Top 5 Shows I'd like to see Tour

Musical 10:01:00

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Culturebean at Strictly Ballroom the Musical

Musical 10:25:00

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Culturebean at A Twisted Christmas - Sneaky Cinema Experience

Theatre 13:14:00

This month Culturebean visited A Twisted Christmas, a Sneaky Cinema Experience in Leeds. The company do lots of pop up immersive events for all ages in unique environments, and this was no different.

I am always looking for quirky and interesting shows. However much I love sitting in a dark, cosy Theatre where the fourth wall is rarely broken, I do also need to break free from tradition and try something new. So this play was the perfect fit.

This show was for grown ups only. So that was exciting! I actually run adult only events as part of my job, and there is something so nice about being exclusive.

After a quick ride on the Ferris Wheel and a wander through the Christmas Markets, we entered the Town Hall with a very festive feeling. From the promotional blurb, I understood our task was to help put the lost decorations back on the Christmas Tree, but how that was exactly going to done I had no idea.

We firstly met the Christmas Cracker in the corridor, a cheery young cracker in training. She imagines she has a hopeful future ahead of her and is bursting with excitement at following in her families footsteps. But what that is exactly she's unsure... In true cracker form this is where the terrible jokes began, from both the cracker and the crowd. We also had the chance to decorate ourselves in cheesy props.

Next we met my favourite character of the night, the Nutcracker. A tough, strict and quite British decoration with clear instruction on what the tree should and should NOT be. After shouting at us, and forcing me to complete a happy dance, she skillfully marched us toward the next room. We found a bratty fairy with anger issues and attitude problems. Well she had be tangled in a box of lights for ten months so I think I'll let her off.

The walk into the next location was magical, a true winter wonderland with shredded snow and towering trees. And as a big kid, I immediately commenced a fake snowball fight with my friend. Until the children's homemade decoration caught our attention, a sad and lonely star who just wanted to be one of the cool decorations.

Then stormed in my second favourite decoration of the night, a bauble who knows he is the most important decoration to ever grace a tree. He's been in in Harrods you know, darling and rolls off Shakespeare with amateur ease. This out of shape bauble commanded the room and appropriately (Christmas) hammed his performance up. Finally the non traditional decoration that was quite out of a place, a Unicorn. She had an air of 'Dory' about her, as dim as my five year old fairy lights but also lovable and likeable in her energetic nature.

The show ended with a selfie with all of the decorations, which I hope to see on some form of social media soon!

It was thrilling to feel part of the promenade show, and have a purpose as an audience, other than to mindlessly applaud. I can safely say I tidy my decorations away neatly each January, so they are well looked after. I really enjoyed my sneaky experience and look forward to attending more of their unusual events.

Keep up to date with their antics here https://sneakyexperience.co.uk/

Image Credit: Sneaky Experience, ITV

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Culturebean at The Full Monty, 2015 Touring Production

Theatre 17:37:00

Please note: I saw The Full Monty in Leeds about a year or so ago but somehow forgot to review it... I think that in itself says a lot about my feelings towards the production, but I am going to pull together a super short review of my thoughts from way back when.

Da da da daa, da da da daa...

A cult classic film turned into a musical, 'how the hell are they going to pull that off', I thought.

It turns out, with a slight bit of difficulty. Imagine trying to exotically strip off in front of your partner for maybe the second or third time. You know the score, have had a bit of practice but ultimately still hop up and down on that last god damn sock, which makes it go from hot to not in 0.5 seconds. You're good but not that good. Thankfully you can both laugh it off so it doesn't really matter that much.

This heartfelt comedy follows a group of hard working and hard done by steelworkers who turn into unlikely yet successful strippers. It's really nice that the story is based in Sheffield, only a stones through from Leeds, as it gave the audience some form of ownership. And I think many can empathise with each character journey. I hate that word 'journey', but it's true. One of the best things about the film was thankfully not lost in this play, which is the friendship and identities each character has and develops.

The acting was fair but mostly forgettable and sometimes a tad awkward. It was the soundtrack and key scenes from the movie that managed to keep the production alive for me. The filler bits fell a little flat.

The set was exactly what I was hoping for creating a Steel City with broken windows, dodgy ladders, solid frames and iron bars that commanded the stage. It felt rough, ready and realistic. Yet some well placed lighting and many glittery streamers injected a bit of pizzazz. I liked this 'Aldi' take on glam, which kind of reflected the characters attempt at entering the exotic male entertainment field.

Obviously they delivered the famous final strip scene. And went all the way. But that pesky lighting hid just enough to keep it tasteful. I was slightly disappointed to hear so many women deafeningly 'holla', 'whoop' and shriek at this point. Calm down, let's keep it classy.

The Full Monty was cheeky and cheerful with the majority female audience members having a right old scream along. But it was always going to be difficult to remake such a classic film, so even though it 'made me smile' in parts, overall it wasn't so 'hot stuff' and maybe next time they 'should leave their hat on'...

Eek sorry for a less than enthusiastic review. The play has had rave reviews from the likes of The Daily Telegraph and won The UK Theatre Award for Best Touring Production, so I'd recommend checking them out for yourselves in their National Tour in 2017. It just wasn't for me tis all.

http://www.fullmontytheplay.com/tour/

Image Credits: The Full Monty The Play

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Culturebean at Police Cops, The Pretend Men

Comedy 19:39:00

Thanks to Slung Low which I first visited in October, I was lucky enough to grab last minute tickets to the sold out performance of, Police Cops, at the Underground Ballroom in Leeds. And wow am I glad I didn't miss this!

The story is absolutely ludicrous. Picture the most stereotypical cop story. Ever. Ham that up to dangerous levels and there is born 'Police Cops' by The Pretend Men.

Good boy Jimmy Johnson just wants to be the best cop ever in the hope of living up to his big brother's/father's dying wishes. Once you throw in his renegade partner, Harrison, and an evil Mexican drug Lord, you've got yourself one heck of an all American, guns blazing, action packed hour ahead.

I can't deny the plot smelled of Family Guy, South Park and Anchorman. I even got a whiff of Seth Rogan in there somewhere... It was a pretty gaseous yet oddly sweet concoction I must say. Scent studies have shown 60 percent of the time it worked all of the time. If that made no sense, I don't blame you, and to explain in non-weird terms - I think the same type of crude, stupid humour crosses over. Let' just say all of their closely related parents got freaky, and created this genetically abnormal off spring. Sorry I got weird again. Damn it.

This play was extremely stylised. I don't think I've ever seen a performance like it? The only (made-up) word that comes to mind is cartoon-ified. Their sequences were sharp, in sync and abrupt. Their characters peppy, wide eyed and emotionally unstable. Their scenes made cinematic transitions from dialogue to montages to choreography. Physical theatre was coming out of every orifice! All of that produced using only three actors, an empty stage and some dodgy props. Pretty impressive.

The performance was infectious. Who knew mixing the actor's moments of deliberate ad-libbing (and not so deliberate corpsing) with a dollop of outright crazy one liners would create a recipe that dished out such generous helpings of the giggles. This show is a laugh a minute. No scratch that, it is a laugh a second. No scratch that, it is a laugh a millisecond. No scratch... Ok sorry I'll stop.

If you want a night out at the movies, but without the price tag or time commitment then this if for you. If you are a regular theatre goer and want to spice up your night then this is for you. If you are a Trump supporter then by god you'll think this is a prediction of the future. Let's make America great again by going back again...

Either way, I've heard 'Police Cops' is illegal in nine countries... So catch it while you can.

Bookface: https://en-gb.facebook.com/thepretendmen/
Tweeterer: https://twitter.com/thepretendmen?lang=en-gb

*this has been crowned the weirdest review I've ever written. It's either due to lack of sleep or the whiff of that odd concoction...

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Culturebean says Top 5 Shows I'd like to see Tour

Culturebean at Strictly Ballroom the Musical

Culturebean at A Twisted Christmas - Sneaky Cinema Experience

Culturebean at The Full Monty, 2015 Touring Production

Culturebean at Police Cops, The Pretend Men

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