I need a Doctor
Main House
Warren
Brighton Fringe
HOW do you write a Doctor Who musical without getting shut down by the BBC? Jamie Wildon & Jess Sprey try their very best in this unauthorized Whosical show. Watch their time traveling hero’s battle copyright-free villains the ‘Exterminators’ and ‘Cybergents’ in this award-winning musical comedy. There’s lot’s of joking and general piss taking of the Dr Who world and famous writers and some thick skinned jokes about middle class white actors which seemed not to reflect on the middle class white kids on stage, however, moving on…
Overall this was silly, much slicker than it looked with some wondrous shabby tacky wobbly set’ness built in both for an authentic fringe feel and because that’s how most of us older folk love ‘classic’ Dr Who, the Nouveau-Whovs had plenty to please them also and along with a big queer element there were lot of kids in the audience. With relentless and pretty merciless digs across the board at some well loved Dr Who actors this was a treat for the fans (my boyfriend laughing endlessly, and me having to ask him ’why that was funny.’) and bearable enough for a non Who’vian like myself. There was some very sophisticated meta references and deconstructions, but it was ladled on thick to make it look very ‘sticky tape and last minute’, the flight of the Tardis and the time travel arms being great physical jokes that the audience loved. These folk rock and with their endless middle class white energy and health food sharpened cheek bones they really kept the show bobbing along and made it look, even in it’s 98th award winning performance that that was the first time they had performed it. Which is a slick feat of acting prowess in itself and suggests a layer of talent in this pair of performers that might slip past the casual viewer.
For more information on the show, click here:
There’s plenty of jokes around the construction of musicals themselves and some good site gags and musical gags ripped from some famous musicals from the very obvious Phantom to more subtle Rent, the pianist deserves a decent round of applause himself. I personally liked the grammatical emphasis on the article ‘A Dr’ , but the rap was a delight, with some Dr Dre references and the Masters nemesis song very funny too. Wilson & Spray are both very charming actors and engaged with the mixed audience with ease, they know their stuff and managed to make some trips, slips and kicking off of computerised dogs heads part of the action, I do like a slick team that are trained to make things look not so.
If you fancy a silly bank holiday treat then get along to see their show at the Main House, the Warren just up behind St Peters. Great fun, very kid friendly and an entertaining hour in the presence of two folk who obviously love Dr Who with a ex-wife’s passion.
Great fun, very Queer & kid friendly and an entertaining hour in the presence of two folk who obviously love Dr Who with a ex-wife’s passion.
Until May 4
For more info on the show or to book tickets, click here:
You must be logged in to post a comment.