Bananaman The Musical – Matthew McKenna (Bananaman) Photo by Pamela Raith
Ever dreamed of being a Superhero? Yep, me too. I would love to wake up one day transformed from my normal weeble-like body into a man of muscles who can fly, save the world and generally be loved and admired by everyone. However, as they say, be careful for what you wish for. A point that is nicely demonstrated in Bananaman The Musical receiving its world premiere at Southwark Playhouse.
Living in 29 Acacia Road – possibly one of the most boring roads on the planet – geeky teenager Eric Wimp (Mark Newnham) dreams of excitement. Unfortunately, the most exciting thing in Eric’s life is finding out what strange combination of ingredients his mother (Lizzii Hills) has put together for his lunch. School life is no better for Eric and about the only positive in his life is his friendship with Vlogger and would-be investigative journalist Fiona (Emma Ralston) and even that isn’t much as Eric wants to be more than friends. Fiona though is only interested in getting the big scoop. Every day she interviews Police Chief O’Reilly (TJ Lloyd) in the hope of seeing some excitement, but Acacia Road just isn’t that sort of place.
And then one day. Eric and Fiona, together with Eric’s other companion, Crow (Jodie Jacobs) go up Acacia Hill to watch a comet pass by. A shard from the comet falls to earth and lands in a banana which Eric inadvertently eats and suddenly finds himself transformed into Bananaman, a caped superhero, ready to take on the likes of evildoers, Doctor Gloom (Marc Pickering) and General Blight (Carl Mullaney) and thwart their plans for world domination.
Truth be told, I missed the whole Bananaman phenomenon the first time around, so I wasn’t too sure what I was going to be seeing when I found out about the show. Arriving at the theatre, I got some sort of idea on first seeing Mike Leopold’s two-storey set. Now, a word to the wise here. When you go and see the show, try to arrive nice and early and take your seats as soon as the house opens. There are two reasons for this. First, it might mean the show starts on time and secondly, while you are waiting you can read old Bananaman stories on the wall whilst playing an enthralling game of ‘guess the 1980s children’s television theme tune’ with the people in the seat next to you.
The show itself – with Book, Music and Lyrics by Leon Parris – is really entertaining. It has a definite feel of a cartoon brought to life. The story is a lot of fun – though at nearly 2 1/2 hours, possibly a tad long – and packs an awful lot into its running time. Much of the story is a parody of the superhero genre and there are lovely elements to keep everyone entertained. My favourite moment was the exceptionally silly but really hilarious introduction of Neil in the second act which was, to my mind the stronger of the two halves, particularly with the introduction of Brian Gilligan as the Mad Magician and some of the worst, but funniest, magic I’ve ever seen. A lot of this has to be laid at the feet of Director Mark Perry who manages to keep the silliness to an agreeable level without it ever becoming too much.
Acting-wise, the show has a top-notch collection of actors and it is really the female cast that lead the way with Emma Ralston, Lizzii Hills and Jodie Jacobs in particular really excelling in their roles of Fiona, Mrs Wimp and Crow respectively. Marc Pickering and Carl Mullaney really ham it up as the two baddies and have one of the funniest numbers in the show with much laughter both from the characters and the audience. Mark Newham as Eric and Matthew McKenna as Bananaman are both first-rate in their roles. Mark brings a lovely vulnerability to Eric that is the complete opposite of the strutting of his alter ego.
Overall then, with a bit of tweaking, I can easily see Bananaman the Musical turning into one of those shows that moves on to a larger venue and earns itself a nice dedicated cult following. For now, my advice to you is, if you want to forget the cold January weather and the Christmas credit card bills hitting the floor then you can’t beat a couple of hours in deepest Southwark following the adventures of a boy, a crow and a banana.
Dawid Minnar Janine Ulfane – Photograher credit Alixandra Fazzina. “Survival of the fittest” is a phrase that originated from Darwinian evolutionary theory as a way of describing the mechanism of natural selection. Which means that even in the most inhospitable of placers, life will find a way – even if at times, you may look and think what’s the point? For example, in South Africa, the aloe plant is considered one of the country’s most powerful, beautiful and celebratory symbols. It survives out in the wild when everything else is dried. At the end of everything, the aloe is still there. And it is this survival that is at the heart of Athol Fugard’s A Lesson From Aloes which has returned to the UK and is currently in residence at the Finborough Theatre. Set in South Africa in 1963, where apartheid is at its height and the citizens are living in a paranoid police state. The play revolves around a middle-aged left-leaning couple – Afrikaner Piet Bezuidenhout (Dawid Minnaar) and hi
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