Last Saturday 3rd February I went and saw Little Britain Live @ The Hordern Pavilion, the live stage show of the hit UK comedy TV series Little Britain.
I’ll try not to give too much away with my little review. I thought the show was fantastic, entertaining, hilarious! It made me laugh until I had tears in my eyes. It’s a fast paced and extremely well put together show, very impressive. Just about every character from the TV series made an appearance. I would have loved to have seen “Bitty…” though.
There were a couple of scenes/skits where Matt & David fell out of character and got into some bizarre banter as themselves for a few minutes, which was possibly planned, but was very funny anyway. There were big laughs during one scene/skit when Matt & David in character began doing imitations of other characters from Little Britain that the opposite person usually plays. There were quite a few references to Sydney and Australia added to the show too which was very funny.
They made clever use of computer generated backgrounds/sets, images of different rooms/walls projected onto a big white wall, with doors to enter/exit from set back of stage, setting the location for each scene/skit. Actual furniture and set pieces rolled on/off stage on tracks with super fast precision. At the end of each scene/skit lights dim, the stage is cleared, and the projected computer graphics come to life, zooming into an object, door or window, and transporting you off across Britain to the location for the next scene/skit, all while enjoying the sounds of Tom Baker’s very funny in-between skit banter as happens in the TV show. The cast must be doing some super fast costume changes back stage during these transitions. I loved the way your interest and excitement never had a chance to drop with the fast pace of the show. The show was presented in two 40-50 minute halves, with a 30 minute intermission.
It was fantastic to see Anthony Stewart Head out here in Australia doing his Prime Minister role, and Paul Putner and Samantha Power who feature as various characters in the TV show also playing support characters with the touring live show.
There are quite a few audience participation bits, with a few people being dragged up on stage to be humiliated by Des Kaye and Marjorie Dawes, awesome!
If you’ve seen the Little Britain Live DVD you may be a little disappointed with the live show touring Australia, as I’m told it’s very similar. I’ve been holding off watching the DVD until after I’d seen the live show. But… If you’re a real Little Britain fan I highly recommend seeing the live show anyway, it really brings the characters to life, great laughs!
Eh! Eh! Ehhhhh!
More info on Little Britain…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Britain_Live
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Britain
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/littlebritain/
Here’s a review of one of the first shows in Melbourne…
http://www.theage.com.au/news/arts-reviews/little-britain-live/2007/01/30/1169919321184.html
And, a review of a Sydney show…
http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts-reviews/little-britain/2007/01/24/1169594351070.html
Eh eh ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
🙂
Comment by Joanne — February 7, 2007 @ 11:22 am