Picture: The Other Richard
How to Win Against History continues at the Udderbelly at Underbelly, George Square until 24 August.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Stupendous, choreographed to within an inch of its life, How to Win Against History tells the story of how Henry Cyril Paget, the 5th Marquess of Anglesey and at one time one of the richest men in Europe, blew the lot within a few years on diamonds, theatre productions and… wearing lavish dresses.
On his early death, the family tried to obliterate all memory of him. This production restores him to life with his outrageous, hilarious and ultimately moving story.
Ostensibly, it’s a two-person show with author Seiriol Davies as Henry and Matthew Blake as Alexander Keith (and a myriad other characters) with, as very much part of the action, keyboard maestro Dylan Townley, a brass section of Mark Harrison, Rhiannon Harrison and Flick Isaac-Chilton and Harry Miller on drums.
Within a minute of opening. the audience is wrong-footed by an unexpected entrance and from then on, it’s joy and pazzazz all the way. Each moment is a delight.
The through-written musical score is magnificent, full of catchy tunes and witty ingenious lyrics. Blink and you miss the smallest attention to detail. It’s surprise all the way, whether it’s hearing the gorgeous a cappella (both Davies and Blake have remarkable vocal ranges), delighting at particular pieces of staging, or the whole team bursting into umpteen-part harmonies. And that’s not counting the enthusiastic audience participation.
This is a completely integrated production with a magnificent set by Hayley Grindle, magnificent costumes by Ryan Dawson Laight, lighting design by Robbie Butler, sound design by Dan Samson and musical supervision by Leo Munby. All marshalled by director Lisa Spirling… and that’s not to forget the audience… not forgetting the surreptitious presence of an unidentified ASM.
Faultless! An absolute joy! See it. In fact, see it twice.
James Bryce
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.