Deep-Heat Rivalry

 

An abrupt change of tone for this tiny, fun production, sold out and just about to finish its run at The Other Palace Theatre.  Anyone who has been following my posts for the past few months will know that I have fallen in love with the Heated Rivalry tv show currently streaming on Sky/Nowtv in the UK.  The tv show diverts us from its classy credentials with the amount of sexiness, but there is actually a much more serious work of highest quality film making and performance hiding just under the surface.  

This theatre production is what it says on the tin - a panto style parody of the show, taking the key plot points and characters but squeezing every last laugh it can out of the material.  I laughed all the way through, so much that my face really did ache a lot!  This is also highly classy in its way though, with every element thought through and with a solid cast of four, including Diana Vickers with her amazing voice doing a lot of heavy lifting in the musical numbers, and playing all of the multiple female characters including The Diva and Celine Dion.  I loved the Schitts Creek crossover at the end too.  The other characters are Shane Hollandaise (Sario Solomon) and Ilya Stroganov (Jason Leigh Winter) and the master of ceremonies is Puck (Ross Chisari), complete with iambic pentameter verses, but of a much spicier nature than we may be used to,  Written by Trevor Ashley,  this appears to be very silly but absolutely knows what it is doing with its combination of juke box musical, panto, burlesque, and the highest level of parody.   

I was pleased to see a really mixed audience, all of whom joined in the fun with gusto although I am glad I wasn’t picked for any of the more intensive audience participation sections - even then though, they were sensible in choosing who was up for it and who wasn't.   The last show is today, so I hope it gets a revival soon, and maybe in a bigger space - it would make a great festive event for those office parties!