25 November – 22 January 2023
One glance at the online booking form tells you everything you need to know about this reprised classic from the Wardrobe catalogue – most days simply read: SOLD OUT!
A genuine antidote to traditional Christmas fare, MDH (some sort of explanation later) is everything we have come to expect from this buzzing small company – adult hilarity woven from crazy mash-ups of classic tales.
Following a steadily growing list of hits: Rocky Shock Horror; Oedipuss in Boots; Drac & Jill (non-stop laughing) and most recently, Little Women in Black, this time it was the turn of a fuzzy frog and his piggy friend to plumb the absurd from a superhero that finds it’s hard to die (geddit?) by resetting a super-grossing film as a well-beloved TV show that rhymes with puppets. If you get the feeling I’m skirting round real names you’d be right! There could be a Disney property lawyer hanging around and I don’t want to be the guy that blows it! (explanation over).
The unsparingly sharp skills of Andrew Kingston take our man of the hour, NY cop John McClane, now a faceless glove puppet, on a wild romp to rescue some feathered hostages and a cool $600,000,000 from the hands of Hans – Gruber that is, played tonight by last-minute stand-in Tom Fletcher reading from script – a man so naturally funny as to be worth the entrance fee alone – who turned the reading of the part into its own mini artform. The audience loved it, cheering any slip (how do you read a script when the lights go out?) as just another level of fun to be had.
Flying next to this fab duo was the incandescent Kim Heron, who could probably double as a solar panel for the theatre if she was plugged in, such was the energy she put into the tribulations of the pigster puppet with luxurious locks.
There are top talents in production too. Kid Carpet’s songs, especially ‘I am so exceptional’ fitted Gruber’s posturing, narcissistic character well, while Jack Drewry’s sound, particularly during episodes where the theatre went into miniature – a plane, a van, a helicopter and especially during a fist fight between mini versions of McClane and one of the baddies, considerably upped the giggling in the packed seats. Designer Ruby Brown’s set, given the small space at the Wardrobe, was a compact work of wonder, giving the three puppeteers ample room to hide behind while allowing entrances and exits from two sides, two cubby-holes and a centrally placed lift. Even the added minimal Christmas decorations seemed to chime with the satirical qualities of the show.
Utterly successful in getting us to suspend our disbelief, there were very well-crafted moments where the story worked across scales, such as during McClane’s scrabble through the air vents of the Nakatomi Tower to escape Gruber’s hit squad – delightfully realised theatre with precision timing and maximum effect at a minimum of expense. A madness masterclass – just what we can all use a bit of right now! The Wardrobe’s confidence is palpable.
★★★★★ Simon Bishop, 9th December, 2022
Photo credit: Paul Blakemore
