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Picture
AVENUE Q 
presented by 

LITTLE THEATRE COMPANY 
9-12 APRIL 2014
‘After seven years of mischief, bad behaviour and political incorrectness in London's West End and on tour, the lovably hopeless characters of Avenue Q are putting their furry feet up and taking a well-earned break’ it is announced on the Avenue Q website.  

Yet panic not because now, the show that was described by one critic by saying “Cross Sesame Street with The Muppet Show, give it an X rating and slap on a Government Health Warning that too much laughter can make your sides ache and you’ve got Avenue Q”, is now available to amateur drama groups to perform and Little Theatre Club have grabbed the opportunity with full force.  This will be the show’s amateur premiere.

This is one of those shows that I irritatingly never got around to and yet many friends urged me to go and see it, often relaying songs and jokes from the production and assuring me how much I would love it.  I couldn’t help but feel a little left out of conversations whenever friends who had seen the show started to discuss it in front of me.  Fortunately, however, this is now not the case. 

Jamie Redgate introduces us to Princeton the a young college graduate, who has been looking for somewhere to live and ends up at Avenue Q, the rundown inner city neighbourhood where he meets his neighbours, Kate Monster, a kindergarten teacher, played by Laura Harper and Brian and Christmas Eve (Tim Cater and Sharon Allwright). We are then introduced to the other residents of the Avenue, Rod and Nicky, (Kane Davis and Darren Harper), Gary Coleman, the one time tv personality fallen on hard times, played by a very ‘female’ yet competent, Lashanna Levine, Trekkie Monster, (Julian Cottee),The very naughty, Bad Idea Bears (John Blatchford and Gemma Carracher), Mrs T (Claire Wilson) and later Lucy the Slut played by a wonderful Louisa Strachan.

Each of the characters has a dream to pursue, with lessons to be learned along the way, just in that same Sesame Street fashion we all know and love; but these lessons are taught with a very definite ‘adult’ theme thus making it an evening of total fun and hilarity and definitely not for kids.

I was particularly impressed with Laura Harper’s performance as Kate Monster with a fantastic American accent and a beautiful clear singing voice; it was as if she’d been playing the part for years. I was also very impressed with Sharon Allwright as, Christmas Eve. Playing the role of a Japanese woman could have proved difficult but she seized the part and made it hilariously her own, delivering some superb comedic lines and leaving the audience in stitches.

There were some great songs in the show with one of my favourites being The Internet Is For Porn with Trekkie Monster (Julian Cottee) really nailing it for comedy value.  I also enjoyed If You Were Gay with Kane Davis and Darren Harper really showing off their puppetry skills.

Unlike other shows involving puppetry, this show allows you to see the puppeteers and although the focus should be on the puppets, you cannot help but notice that the actors very much become one with their puppets. It is hard to believe, and a great credit to all the actors to learn that they have only been handling the puppets since January this year.

A credit should also go to Victoria Tewes and Lianne Larthe, the other halves of Nicky and Trekkie Monster puppets, who both required two puppeteers.

LTC have not only had to learn puppetry skills but also to sing, talk and move whilst doing it too.  Not an easy task to ask of any actor, yet they have more than efficiently carried it off.

Director, Joanne Ellis-Bailey has had her work cut out for her, for not only does she have the actors to direct, she also has the added task of making sure the actors’ puppetry skills are tip top as, ultimately, the puppets are the stars of the show. There was only one moment in the show that one of the actors was masking their puppet for audience members to the right of the stage but as it was during You Can Be As Loud As The Hell You Want, where the puppets are having sex, one wouldn’t really want to make a fuss!

Avenue Q played to an almost full house tonight and I understand that most nights are almost full to the Gallery.  There are also two matinee performances on Friday and Saturday at 5pm and I would urge you to grab a ticket as quickly as you can because although I never got to see this show in the West End, it really doesn’t matter, because this week, the West End has come to The Palace Theatre, Westcliff.  I certainly won’t feel left out on dinner party conversations now. Avenue Q is a must see.


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