Fuckey, shitty, crap, cunt, fuck, shit and bugger!!!! If that has offended, insulted or disgusted you DO NOT SEE THIS SHOW. If on the other hand your ok so far, than by all means read on.
Why did I start with such offensive and controversial language? Well this show is packed full of it. In fact I have never heard the word 'cunt' said so much in such a short space of time. however a lot of the time the swearing is a source of hilarity as its usually Sheila Hancock who's saying it. I know its meant to be a portrayal of a criminal Essex family, but the amount of swearing is over the top and after a while it was starting to annoy me. Not because I was offended by it, but because the amount of it was just unnecessary. Thankfully, the amount of swearing does reduce in the second act. I saw this show during previews, so there is every possibility the amount of swearing gets reduced.
Unfortunately Sheila Hancock, Lee Evans and Keeley Hawes forgot or fumbled a few of their lines, but they have only been performing for a couple of days so I'm sure that will improve with time. Sheila Hancock is brilliant and well worth seeing just for her performance. with a great sassiness, sharpness and an over the top exaggerated 'Essex bird'. Lee Evans is also good, playing a bit of a stupid character. I find it hard though to forget his comedy acts and that is great. It stopped me getting to amerced into the show. Keeley Hawes was also good playing, like Sheila, an over the top, exaggerated 'Essex bird'. She played it well and I got the impression she was enjoying the character. Karl Johnson, who I know from Lark Rise To Candleford, is fantastic as the elderly next door neighbour. I completely forgot the character he played in the TV show. All of the costumes are ok, but nothing that really jumped out at me.
The sets are also brilliant. The scene only changes once, but there is so much going in that the lack of scene changes hardly matter. The opening set in fantastic and, in my opinion, far better than the sent in the second act. Infancy there were a few claps from the audience, as well as a few laughs, as soon as the curtain went up. The laughs were only because of its over the top and exaggerated Essexness.
I must again make it completely clear, if you are offended by, or just don't like, swearing, DO NOT SEE THIS SHOW. Saying that it is a relatively good show, though nowhere near as good as I had hoped given the acting talent that's in it. Obviously they are limited by the script, which reads more like a second rate tv soap opera, but I still thought someone like Sheila Hancock could do a lot better than she did. I'm not going to tell you to give this show a miss, but be prepared to be a little disappointed. I'm only giving 3 stars because I know with time it has the potential to improve, though that may take longer than the length of time its in the West End for. Tickets and Info
