We’re all about to get Boris’d.
Whether you like it or not, very soon a man with the hair of an Old English Sheepdog and demeanour of a bemused bear will be elevated to the highest office of the land, ready to lead us triumphantly into Brexit Britain.
With alarmingly convenient timing Blowfish Theatre happen to be touring their satirical musical Boris 2: Brexit Harder, which takes a look at the largely accidental rise of everyone’s* favourite Tory pin-up.
You may remember that not so long back we reviewed Trump: The Musical (https://smallhousebigtrips.co.uk/trumpthemusical/), blowfish’s previous production, and gave it a huge thumbs up. It was a pleasant Easter Egg that Boris 2 acts as somewhat of a prequel to Trump, building a Blowfish Theatrical Universe.
I am happy to report, that Blowfish are consistently funny, delivering laughs, tunes, daftness and lampoonery, just as before. Boris does not come alone, and a supporting cast containing David Cameron, Michael Gove, Nigel Farage and Theresa May are there to support, lambast and fall on their swords in front of him, as Boris blunders his way to the top. One thing is for sure, I am never going to look at Jacob Rees-Mogg in the same way ever again.
The cast is much the same as Trump. Laurence and Kyle, the two directors of blowfish are clearly having an absolute blast with their material. Natasha and Polly return as well, freewheeling through a number of different roles, again clearly loving every minute. When Trump rolled around, we missed James Ringer-Beck in the title role, and Polly stepped in. This time James returns as the headline act, and delivers a very good impression of Big Bad Blundering Boris. I would also be horribly remiss to not mention the lynchpin of the music, Dominic Lo sat off to the side of the stage, soundtracking everything, bellowing along to the rock numbers that spring up.
There’s a decent amount of audience participation as well. Be prepared to be asked by Cheeky Uncle Nige what you want from Brexit. Sadly renationalising the railways was not on the menu, and I was offered a sweet instead. Probably more that we’ll get under the proper Brexit.
Blowfish are a wonderful independent theatre company, working hard to bring music, comedy and current events to brilliant venues like the Old Joint Stock. If you have the time to catch their performance here, or can catch them at their next stop – The Edinburgh Fringe Festival then do make the effort. Its well worth it. For us Brummies, they do return in Autumn with a production based around local hero Shakespeare (Stratford is close enough), and as a particular fan of the Scottish Play, we’ll definitely be along to see that.
Thank you for having us Blowfish. We love you guys.
*not everyone’s
Disclaimer: We were invited along to review the show. All thoughts and opinions are our own. Photo Credit goes to Heather Isobel.