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You
know you're headed for theatre's Final Frontier and not just your
seat when you pass a serene middle-aged couple in mid-aisle, resplendent
in racy blue Thunderbirds caps at rakish angles, quietly and separately
engrossed in The Independent. Yes, this is retro-nostalgia in all
its glory and last night it had sucked diehard fans out of the woodwork
like hapless thumb tacks to a horse magnet. For those of you who have
been living on another planet for the last four decades the show is
based on the original 1960's Thunderbirds 'Supermarionation' (that's
funky-pupppets-with-strings) TV series by Gerry Anderson, in which
Good reassuringly defeated Bad, week after week.
The very first thing that registers with ths production is the fever
pitch of excitement in the foyer as hordes of ecstatic kids explode
into the theatre leaving the sedately shuffling adults in their wake
looking like a re-enactment of an Iron Curtain bread queue. (Their
fizzing little forms disappear completely once seated, imbuing the
delighted giggles that later abound with a groovily spooky disembodiedness).
The simple but stunningly effective set and catchy 60's series-style
music serves to immediately kickstart the kitsch memories. By the
time the show starts with one of the instantly familiar characters
dramatically backlit and uncannily identical to the original marionette
in both appearance and -hilariously - movement the audience is well
on its way. We're launched full tilt into an appropriately simple
plot: the President of America is balanced precariously on a sabotaged
bridge, in a clear and present danger of being annihilated by the
evil Mr X. Can the Thunderbirds - with the help of the dashing and
show-stealing Captain Scarlet - save him in time?!
Who cares!? For as the refreshing mix of kids and adults denotes,
the attraction of the show is that it both pays homage to and caricatures
the endearingly cheesy yet compelling original, peppered in all its
splendour with corny dialogue, a geeky wholesomeness, overly dramatic
climaxes and and the laughably unfortunate yet unavoidable limitations
of using marionettes - naff jerky movements, wooden expressions (ho
ho!) etc.
Having said all that, and it pains me to say this, the show -excellent
as it is - should be better. Especially considering the luxury fine-tuning
time generated by its phenomenal run. The actors have been doing it
on and off since 1984, the debut of what was to become probably the
most unlikely smash hit the West End's ever seen . (The show was so
popular in fact it single-handedly prompted the BBC to dust off its
episodes for a glorious re-release). The storyline is a bit unclear
to begin with and loses some of the kids, a few of the mime sequences
are a little too long (and could do with some kind of musical accompaniment)
and a stronger, more cohesive narrative is required overall to offset
the slightly fragmented feeling generated by the fact that it's a
cast of merely two. (Though it's a superb cast, no doubts there.)
However it remains to be said that the show is knee deep in enough
pure comic genius to make it more than worthwhile. Dazzlingly clever
and inventive (the Thunderbirds launch, for instance, had them howling),
even the curtain call is inspired as the actors toss a bonus Gerry
Anderson gem our way with effortless aplomb.
It's a short show, and slightly uneven, but you're unlikely to have
so much unadulterated fun or see anything like it in a theatre for
a long, long time. Catch it if you can - (sorry, just can't resist
this...)- It's A Blast!
Monica Pausina
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