Catherine Bennett resumes the weekly look at the performing arts world, with the sad end of Jerusalem, the luck of a cabbie, and French revolt. Do you hear the people sing?
Adam Alcock reviews Nigel Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and his own Four Elements at York Opera House.
Catherine Bennett highlights the trends in the performing arts world today.
Jonathan Cridford reviews 'Ghosts', one of the Freshers' plays for this year.
However, this show turned out to be a pretty pleasant surprise. The first half showcased Demon’s folk talent with an impressive band and some interesting arrangements: he jokingly said that “Woman Walking With Death” was a little depressing so he’d chosen to do it Death Metal. This put a smile on my face, not because I’m a closet Mosher, but because the words “folk” in the band’s blurb had created an audience dominated by retired Radio 2 devotees (no disrespect to Radio 2).
The only low point for me during the first half was when the stage was graced by two Morris dancers. I say graced but never before have I seen a noisier, scarier and bloody knackering display of jumping, stomping and leaping. They may well have been the pinnacle of Morris action but I just don’t get it!
After the interval, a beer and some Morris recovery time came something truly awesome. The second half began with a run down living room setting replacing the bands gear: the set for a pilot for a new show currently being developed. What followed was ten minutes of the most spectacular break dancing, beat boxing and percussion, which left the audience on the edge of their seats. This was folk fighting for its place in the 21st Century, the clog dancers interacting with the percussion and the break dancers fighting back with a call and response beat box barrage. If this was just the pilot then the full show is going to be the best thing in the Theatre Royal calendar.
10 minutes of shock and awe over and it was back to the folk. I couldn’t help feeling that Demon had been slightly upstaged by the younger cast of the experimental piece but even so, it was still pretty enjoyable. So having spent two hours in the Theatre Royal I have finally discovered what England’s traditional music scene is all about. Ireland may have their Riverdance but we’ve got Demon and by the looks of his new show, folk is about to get cool.
The Demon Barber Roadshow played at the York Theatre Royal on Wednesday 7th May. For more information check out the bands website here or to keep an eye out for future shows visit York Theatre Royal's website.
hahaha, great stuff...I can't wait for folk to 'get cool.'
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