Review – Derrière on a G String – King’s Head Theatre, London

PLEASE NOTE – This is an ADULTS ONLY show.

This week I have the absolute privilege of attending the press night of Derrière on a G String at the fabulous King’s Head Theatre and honestly… what a fabulously naughty, utterly bonkers, fever dream of comedy this show is.

Created by Some Smith and Moore, and directed and choreographed by Alfred Taylor-Gaunt, this gloriously ridiculous production throws physical comedy, dance, chaos and complete nonsense into a blender and somehow creates something brilliantly clever.

It genuinely feels like somebody has taken a classic Saturday morning kids TV programme, given it an adults only budget, added a lot of innuendo, a little partial nudity and unleashed complete theatrical chaos on an unsuspecting audience..

The genius of the show is that it builds an entire vocabulary out of strange noises, squeaks, grunts, shrieks and bizarre sounds that by the end of the night you somehow understand fluently. I leave feeling like I could probably order a coffee in whatever language this cast have invented. I should also mention that all of this madness is set to very famous classical music like The Barber of Seville, The Nutcracker (it would be) and Swan Lake!

The costuming is also wonderfully smart. Every character is cleverly colour coded with instantly recognisable traits and personalities, making the madness easy to follow even when the stage descends into complete comic carnage.

And the cast… honestly how do you even single people out in an ensemble piece this tight? Every single performer commits one hundred percent to the insanity, throwing themselves around the stage with fearless precision and ridiculous energy and they bring to life the various characters – Flop (Sammy Moore), Grunt (Ryan Upton) Vinyl (Ena Yamaguchi) Drip (Cam Tweed), Twitch (Courtney Cyrus) and Slosh (Alice O’Brien) The choreography from Alfred Taylor-Gaunt deserves a huge shout out too because balancing dance and physical comedy this well is incredibly difficult, yet every moment feels effortless even when it is gloriously chaotic.

Oh and did I mention the g strings? This absolutely is not theatre for children. It is theatre for big kids with a stupid sense of humour who laugh at ridiculous situations, physical mishaps and cheeky silliness. If your idea of a perfect night out involves elegant subtle drama… probably avoid. If however you enjoy leaving a theatre with aching cheeks from laughing so much, this ridiculous little masterpiece is absolutely worth climbing aboard for.

Derrière on a G String is an evening of complete joy, and for reminds us that life is silly… and sometimes that is absolutely fine!

*****     Five Stars