The Pleasance in London offers a delightfully welcoming and warm pub theatre experience in a part of town not otherwise associated with stage drama. The main house is set up as a cabaret venue with an apron stage and set tables, rather than rows of seats, all of which makes it a very suitable venue for productions that involve extensive audience interaction.
This is certainly the case in the current show where the drag performers engage regularly with the audience, and where the recorded soundtrack of contemporary music from the gay disco scene invites audience participation. The show offers a very alternative take on the plot of the ballet ‘Giselle’, where the central character moves from the world of rom-coms into a disillusioning milieu of cheap hook-ups, online assignations and drug-fuelled disco. To be frank it is so alternative that there is no meaningful narrative connection I can discern at all between the two plotlines other than a vague transition from naive innocence into grim experience; so perhaps it is best to just forget the title in assessing the work.
What we have in actual fact is a series of imaginatively choreographed dance episodes centred around the ‘Giselle’ character, played by Jack Spears, supported and enhanced by a highly skilful four-person dance troupe. The episodes parody classical ballet tropes initiallyc, with knowing camp comedy, before transitioning into a some stunningly athletic, high-energy, disco-themed numbers, which are technically very impressive, thanks to Hannah Grennell’s expert choreography. The shifts in costume from gauzy, floaty and lush through to fetish and scantyare also was well achieved. But there was no real development of character, or clear narrative progression, and the sound was thunderously over-amplified.
The best parts of the evening dramatically were the very beginning and the very end. At the start seasoned performer Kit Green lip-synched effectively to ‘Stormy Weather’ and disrobed with a bit of audience assistance. They returned at the end for a final tableau with Spears set to the famous Garland-Streisand version of ‘Happy Days Are Here Again.’ This had been preceded by a sobering, reflective sound montage of quotes from a plethora of gay icons on the challenges they had faced in living their lives.
For all the impressive dancing and drag skills on display, I did not find the show dramatically compelling overall, and that is reflected in my rating. However, it is only fair to say that the bulk of the audience, much younger than I, greeted it with great enthusiasm.
Creators: Jack Sears and Hannah Grennell
Pleasance Theatre
Cast: Harri Eiffert, Elle Fierce, Kit Green, Spike King, Marie Astrid Mence, Jack Sears
Photo Credit: Ali Wright
Until 27 April 2024
70 mins, no interval