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Taboo
Derngate, Northampton
Monday
5 to Saturday 10 April, 2004
Tickets: £14.50 to £24.50
Box Office: 624811 |
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| Reviewer's
rating: |
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| Uncanny:
Boy George (Stephen Ashfield) |
Nostalgia
is big business at Derngate. Solid Silver 60s Shows, Sing-a-long-a-ABBA,
The Meat Loaf Story, Grease...they all put bums on seats.
Taboo charts the rise and fall of the New Romantics in the 1980s.
But Taboo is no ordinary nostalgia show. It's not pop culture made
all rosey.
Taboo paints a grim, seedy and sexually-decadent era. In the shadows
beneath the sex shop signs in the back streets of London, the disenchanted
and bewildered gathered and a sub-culture was born.
Misfits
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| Outrageous:
Leigh Bowery (Mark Little) |
This
is the story of Boy George (who wrote the music and lyrics to Taboo)
and those around him: Marilyn, Steve Strange, Philip Sallon, Leigh
Bowery and Sue Tilley.
This underworld peopled by misfits burst out of the shadows and
onto the world stage in the '80s when Boy George took the nation
by storm with Do You Really Want To Hurt Me and Karma Chameleon.
The language and images are strong. The characters' costumes are
outrageous, and so is their behaviour.
Outrageous
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| Misfit:
Leigh Bowery (Mark Little) |
The
most over-the-top is Leigh Bowery, played by Mark Little (stand-up
comedian, one-time Big Breakfast presenter, and formerly Joe Mangle
from Neighbours). He expertly recreates the out-of-this-world life
of the Australian designer, artist and performer.
Stephen Ashfield does a very accurate Boy George and Drew Jaymson
brings pantomime dame proportions to the part of club organiser
Philip Sallon. Steven Osborn caused much merriment with his Arthur
Mullard-style transvestite, Petal.
Stranger In This World is one of the songs, and it sums up the characters
in the show. They felt like outcasts. They're all sad, bitchy and
tragic.
This is a new musical with loads of new songs and is not a rehash
of popular tunes from the '80s. And it's not just a musical - it's
a warts-and-all look at a very weird world.
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Amanda Borley
I thoroughly enjoyed Taboo. The cast seemed to enjoy themselves with several visits into the audience (beware those sitting at the end of an aisle) The songs were good, only a few were Culture Club hits. If you don't know anything about the new romantic scene or Boy George don't worry it won't spoil your enjoyment of a highly entertaining show. The costumes are flamboyant as is the language used by the actors. Enjoy.
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