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| Lovingly borrowed from Gagglebable |
I was very impressed by what is essentially a fringe production investing the time to actually make a meaningful attempt at providing the audience with a little information in a nicely designed package.
The front is a photo montage paying homage to B-Movie posters of the 1950s, with a sci-fi feel to it. Despite the bloody hand it's a quite subtle and effective advert for the play with almost all of the main elements of the show included, though some of which are only apparant when you study it in detail.
Content wise, the back page is the cast list, inside front page is mainly blurb about the theatre company, inside back page lists the dates of the show, a few excerpts from reviews and a nice block of text on the genesis of the play. One little bonus is the inclusion of the chorus form the final song (useful if you're inclined towards audience participation).
Overall this a strong 4 star, it's free, it's printed in colour and it has strong design. Pushing out the boat and commissioning a painting for the front to be completely true to B-Movie posters would have made it 5 stars, as would a little bit more bio on the cast and creatives, the space taken up on the tour dates and review quotes is perhaps wasted in a programme, but this is more of a flyer so is unfair to criticise.
As for the show itself - a decent 4 stars - there were a few issues with mic stands, and random noise pops that meant it wasn't as slick as it should have been on the night, but at £15, it's a bargain. I'm a big fan of murder ballads and disaster songs as well as blues and rock n roll, so I rather enjoyed it. It starts a little slow, but the tension and pace rachet up towards the end. Combined with the range of Adnams beers you can drink during the performance, it's a great night out. If you don't catch it in London, it's reappearing at the Edinburgh Festival and would be well worth a diversion (regardless of beer selection).
Once you've been to see the show, or if you can't make it, you can download the songs on bandcamp or watch the whole show online.
