LOWCULTURE THEATRE REVIEW OF THE YEAR
We’re near the end of 2009 so time to look back on the high and lowlights of the year. The others will be here with more traditional lowculture categories like TV and film, but this year we also started looking at how proper telly talent was appearing on stage in every corner of the globe. Oh, OK, not so much in every corner of the globe as exclusively in That London, but that’s where I live so tough.
Unlikely lowcultural centre of the universe in 2009 was the Royal Court – Sloane Square’s famous centre of worthy political theatre. Early this year the Theatre Downstairs gave us Over There, in which identical twins Harry and Luke Treadaway spent most of the play in their undies, smearing food over each other. Obviously, in no way whatsoever did this fulfil the fantasies of anyone on this site. Meanwhile Upstairs lowculture favourite Russell Tovey was baring his famous arse in A Miracle.
Polly Stenham’s first play had showcased the talents of future Doctor Who Matt Smith; this year’s hit Tusk Tusk starred the new Teenaged Dumbledore, Toby Regbo. The Court’s summer hit Jerusalem featured Barry “Evil Niall off Hollyoaks” Sloane, and no, you wouldn’t have missed him if you blinked. Well, maybe if you blinked quite slowly. And the theatre’s current show, The Priory, stars the combined talents of Jessica Hynes, Rupert Pendulum Penry-Jones and Joseph “Fit Dad” Millson.
Over in the West End, the year started with Imelda Staunton flashing her vajayjay at Matthew Horne in Entertaining Mr Sloane. There was the last ever, ever, ever performance of Avenue Q, except it wasn’t and the show reopened at the Gielgud Theatre a couple of months later, still starring lowculture favourite Daniel Boys. March 2010 will see the show’s last ever, ever, ever, ever performance – no, really this time. Honest.
Less fortunate was another Broadway import that had a lot of fans on the LC forums and among the professional critics. Sadly after transferring from the Lyric Hammersmith, Spring Awakening didn’t capture the attention of West End audiences and had to kiss its sorry ass goodbye at the end of May. One of its stars, Iwan Rheon subsequently appeared in E4′s sleeper hit, Misfits. Meanwhile the Donmar West End’s Madame de Sade achieved the seemingly impossible by being soul-crushingly awful despite the presence of both Dame Judi Dench and Frances Barber.
More recently The X Factor‘s Diana Vickers was a surprise hit in Little Voice, while Victoria Wood’s revival of her own play Talent was a bit, er, yeah. In light of recent events *cough* *Midlife Christmas* *cough* maybe Dame Victoria was just getting us prepared for disappointment. And finally Sheridan Smith reminded us that she’s much more suited to musical theatre than she is to being a crappy sidekick for James Corden, by starring in the already-hugely-successful transfer of Legally Blonde: The Musical opposite BISEXUAL Duncan James. And there we have it. By all accounts 2010 will be another year, in which lots of things may or may not happpen. Don’t say I don’t give you all the inside info.
