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Phil Hopkins
Group Travel Editor & Theatre Correspondent
@philhopkinsuk
10:05 AM 12th October 2017
arts

Irreverant Mash Up - Fastasticus

 
In a world where political correctness is de-rigueur, there is perverse pleasure in watching an irreverent mash up of swearing, innuendo and affectionate abuse, if only to prove that you're still human and not the product of an emerging modern dystopia!

Reasons To Be Cheerful, Graeae Theatre Company's tribute to the late Ian Dury and the Blockheads - one of the early champions of D/deaf and disabled people (oops I've just gone all politically correct - sorry) - was fantasticus! Loved every abusive, musical minute.

It was rough, raw and thanks to this company's eternal desire to ensure that creatively no one is ever left out, all Dury's lyrics formed part of a spectacular backdrop of graphics, proving what a lyrical genius he really was. In its own right, the show was a lesson in seamless communication visually and audibly.

I lived through the punk era but, to some extent, it passed me by, but Reasons to be Cheerful will not allow you to be passive, promising to blow you out of West Yorkshire Playhouse's Quarry theatre with more effectiveness than a stick of dynamite.

Said by director Jenny Sealey to be for anyone who loves Dury, anyone who has been or is a teenager, anyone who has fallen in love or for anyone who has ever nicked their parents' car, this raucous musical hits you with its very own rhythm stick!

Taken from the fans' perspective, it centres around the antics of Vinnie, Colin and Janine's desire to get to a Dury concert along with Vinnie's terminally ill dad Bill. Only the car breaks down, they don't get there but spend a wonderful night on the beach reminiscing with dad and learning about themselves.

Stephen Lloyd was the enthusiastic, dad-loving teen Vinnie who pairs up with co-rebel Stephen Collins, aka Col, invariably to share love stories or take the rise out of self-confessed Tory boy Nick, aka Max Runham, a man prone to tight trousers and large lunchboxes!

If you have ever felt the need to run through Sainsbury's - Waitrose would be better - shouting 'you're all a bunch of f******g c****s then you'll love this no holds barred musical which panders to no one, least of all the politically correct.

It is a breath of fresh air in this sanitised world where we are all told what we can and cannot say so, if you have broad shoulders, a glint in your eye and a penchant for loud music, then get yourself to the WY Playhouse now, it will refresh you and remind you that there is a real world out there untouched by the 'we know what's best for you' do gooders.

Reasons to be Cheerful
West Yorkshire Playhouse
Until Saturday 14th October 2017