Theatre Reviews

Of horror and hilarity

Monday 27th January was Holocaust Memorial Day, the 80th anniversary of the date of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by the Soviet Allied forces. An event serendipitously connected to this week’s column.
We begin with Athasha Lyonnais vexed with vilification…
Revenge: After the Levoyah (Yard Theatre) is the timely new play about a group of British Jews circa-2019, who decide that the wave of antisemitism has reached boiling point, and the only thing for it is to kidnap, torture, mutilate and kill Jeremy Corbyn. Nick Cassenbaum began writing this in 2022 and luckily nothing has changed since then and now that would complicate this breezy, tongue-in-cheek heist caper. Functionally the script owes more to Guy Richie than any Jewish literature tradition.
As identical twins Dan and Lauren embark on their (surprisingly straightforward) plot to kidnap ‘Magic Grandpa’, the two actors take on the roles of a number of larger than life characters – Malcom Spivak, an elderly Jewish gangster, Moishie, a 91-year-old holocaust survivor who’s more or less a golem, a loutish nazi plumber, and a bevy of last-minute cameos from shadowy government agents. The changes are quick, and often funny, but as a Richie pastiche this is sorely lacking – most of the action scenes (which get more elaborate as the play builds) are just described by one of the actors.
This is not to say that there aren’t funny moments. A lot of the gags land, and it’s clear that Cassenbaum is if not directly lampooning, at least playing around with the idea of Corbyn being the head-vampire of British antisemitism. But this still felt like a weird thing to still be focusing on in 2025. I really enjoy going to The Yard theatre. It seemed like a dynamic new space for young talent to emerge. I don’t know how to describe this as anything but a horrible bum note.
Meanwhile, I was at the Menier Chocolate Factory to see the first London theatre revival since 2006 of The Producers, the Mel Brooks musical (original film 1967), a mocking, satirical black comedy.
Two Broadway producers, in search of the ultimate scam, stage a seriously bad-taste play about Hitler and the Nazis with the Hitler character turning out to be a free-spirited, drug taking bohemian type who stars in the hilarious parody of a Busby Berkeley title song ‘Springtime for Hitler.’ Creative genius meets ultimate horror and Brooks knew exactly what he was risking in writing the show. Sure enough it had mixed reviews in the Sixties but is now regarded as a classic of the genre.
Today the characters present as such rabid stereotypes they may make you wince but as with my recent trip to see the Fawlty Towers (the play) revival, the premise for both is ridiculously funny. Andy Nyman plays Max Bialystock, the money hungry producer who looks as if his wardrobe is from a 1960’s charity shop. Mark Antolin is Leo Bloom, a young accountant who convinces Max to stage a guaranteed bum production – Springtime for Hitler (yes that one) – and then run off with all the money invested by those they had duped. Genius, expect that the bum turns out to be a triumph. Plum roles, spanking portrayals. The production itself was conceived and written by Frank Liebkind (a maxed out mad and delicious performance by Harry Morrison) a man whose penchant for pigeons and The Führer know no limits. Completing the line up of characters who would have social media on fire are Ulla (Joanna Woodward), an off the wall sexy Swedish actress (brought to mind Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles) and gay director Roger de Bris (Trevor Ashley) who is so extravagantly camp that even Albin from La Cage aux Folles would struggle to get a look in.
Patrick Marber’s production is a slightly left field interpretation and there are moments when his attempt to walk the tightrope between dated tropes and updating feels a little contrived but for the most part it is what Brooks wanted it to be, mocking entertainment that takes everything to the limit and in doing so reduces the exterminating Nazis to nothing more than a brutal and blighted ideology of deranged men whose alpha male credentials are now reduced, in theatre anyhow, to one of the funniest songs in a musical. Two days later I was in a more sombre mood but still smiling thanks to this ridiculed Hitler.
Finally, Sotira Kyriakides revels in la chanteuse extraordinaire…
Edith Piaf (whose actions saved many French Jews) never performed in the United Kingdom, but the Scottish singer Christine Bovill embodied the iconic French singer in Piaf Revisited (Wilton’s Music Hall).
She mixed the singing with some verbal interludes which enriched the show with context. She managed to fuse her life story in with Piaf’s journey, which was a delight and kept the audience engaged with her anecdotes, interspersed with resounding performances of some of Piaf’s biggest hits. Bovill made it feel that she had captured the spirit of Piaf and really belted the songs out from her heart. The trademark hands on the hips was stylishly done, without being overbearing or overplayed. She was accompanied by Michael Roulston, who really did justice to the songs with his piano. The early versions of this show found acclaimed success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2012 and has since toured globally. Throughout, the songs were sung in French or English or a mix of the two. Bovill’s performances of ‘Milord’ and ‘L’Accordeoniste’ were exemplary, and if Piaf had been there she would surely have been delighted. Her spine-tingling performance of ‘Non, je ne regrette rien’ was another gem. Every single number a piece de resistance! Simply merveilleux!

Revenge: After the Levoyah – www.theyardtheatre.co.uk
The Producers – www.menierchocolatefactory.com
Piaf Revisited – run complete

The Producers photo credit: Manuel Harlan