Based very loosely on Shakespeare's The Tempest, Bob Carlton has fashioned an homage to those old Saturday morning space adventures of old with a stomping soundtrack of familiar rock tunes from the 60's, all combined with the most tenuous of storylines (but weren't they always preposterous?) and a healthy dose of comedy.
The amazing cast, triple threat performers who can act, sing and play a variety of instruments live onstage, bounce around the space craft set sending up every genre they stumble across. Nothing is safe from a torrent of Shakespearean puns, modern sci-fi references and musical quips all delivered in a mixture of faux iambic pentameter and modern asides. The former taking a few minutes to get used to, but then it seems as natural as breathing.
The plot, what there is of it, follows the fortunes of a space ship that is dragged to the surface of a planet by an evil scientific genius (aren't they always?). There follows the antics of the combined crew plus a couple of randoms from the planet as they fight the despot. As is to be expected the dashing, slightly dumb, handsome captain is lusted after by the evil genius's daughter who is, in turn, lusted after by the ship's cook. The moral compass is guarded by the obligatory camp robot who somehow manages to sort everything out in time for the final curtain.
The set is a suitably futuristic cage of chrome pipes and dalek-esque steps housing two drum sets and numerous musical instruments, each passed around from performer to performer as required by this multi-faceted cast. Great lighting effects illuminate the appropriately cheesy special effects crowned by the entirely unexpected, but eminently suitable appearance of Queen's Brian May as the narrator. What else can you ask for?
Return to The Forbidden Planet is on at Curve until Saturday 11 April
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