Bush! The Musical continues at the Lime Studio at Greenside @ George Street until 29 August 2026.
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
Hold onto your Uncle Sam hats, as presidents are coming!
This witty newly-devised comedy by Vincent Chen, with songs by Chen and Iona Blair, directed by Amy Hemsworth from Oxford-based company The Mollys, offers an intriguing tongue-in-cheek route to finding out how the world of American party politics may function.
In this ‘play that goes wrong’ infused portrait of Bush (the Dubya variety), or rather Bushes, other characters and props, spring up, and vie for attention.
This is an ideal show if you know little about George W Bush (junior) because no further learning is required, and – spoiler alert – you won’t be subjected to any literacy test.
A key strength of this company is its character acting, with some members of the supporting cast exaggerating recurring traits in their characterisations to great effect. Strong performances come from Josh Bruton, skilfully portraying a dastardly Al Gore, and Wren Talbot-Ponsonby in a simply bizarre doubling as HW Bush and Nancy Pelosi.
Uniting and elevating this production is the talented Rebecca Harper. Listed as only playing three parts (Narrator/Laura Bush/Barbara Bush), there is such a lot more going on in her world. She narrates the action while slipping into White House press secretary mode, cleverly commenting on her previous role and stage-managing her doubling as mother and wife before, finally, under sweaty pressure, taking on the responsibility of waving a very large flag as the credits metaphorically roll.
Comic strip influences, cultural references to more recent times and corny gags abound and are well-underpinned by Harper and Talbot-Ponsonby’s witty choreography. The action is pretty slickly performed on the whole, but might benefit from the transitions being speedier. Slapstick moments could be made even more of, such as the subtle leaf blower.
Historical insights are incorporated to tantalisingly muddle fact and fiction, such as what we learn about (Baby) Bush’s desire for comfort, need to break away from parental influence and reliance on his Dick (Cheney). In the end, his message to others is that of a petulant toddler, groomed for greatness but falling short, who pouts: “You’re supposed to be telling my story, I’m supposed to be the hero.”
With a few seriously delightful strategic tap dance steps and some amping up of step modulation, the final chorus trills ‘At Least He Was President’, complete with jazz hands.
This well-scripted indiscriminate gallop through recent American history is fully audible but some cast members lack polish in enunciation and articulation. Developing greater depth in several voices would boost projection of the narrative.
Through-composed music might have added atmospheric scene setting to the show, but the moment when Gore cuts off the music because it is distracting the audience from his speech reveals that its absence is deliberate. Music is used for set-piece songs, highlighting the comedy. Occasionally the songs are a bit underwhelming but the zappy pace is maintained by musical directors Benjamin Waterer and Sophia Hutchison.
A new show that is well worth a look.
Charlotte Purkis
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.