Chickenshed Theatre Presents
Mr. Stink
Walker Theatre
Monday 29th July
There is a story that we all encounter as youngsters called the “Emperor’s New Clothes,” the big reveal is that just because he was the Emperor no one would criticise him. Consequently until an innocent boy points out the Emperor is naked, no one would say a word. Is David Walliams the new Emperor and this show really his raw nakedness on display? If so allow me to be the one who points and shouts, “this show is in the all together!”
Full of inappropriate references about homelessness and how homeless people smell and don’t care. It teaches children to befriend suspicious old tramps and spend all their time and money on them and with them. Plus it teaches, its ok to smuggle these smelly old homeless people into your shed because let’s face it, after all why not?
Forget trying to house him properly, maybe explore eradicating homelessness and explore where society is going wrong, this show perpetuates the reason why the country maybe going wrong. Wrong messages!
Wrong messages, teaching the children who all know from schools that you wouldn’t behave this way, children are aware and rightly so, of stranger danger. This show dispels all that teaching. This show also seems to suggest that a little racial stereotyping by making an Asian man run the sweetshop is perfectly fine and making him do the stereotypical Asian voice is hilarious. All that seemed a little incongruous with everything we are trying to educate our youngsters about. Are we to let our Children accept these half-buried sentimental messages and deter them from a true education?
Walliams work here is ill conceived and not very nice. His characters don’t come across as nice even the nice ones! The messages are so very wrong and one will be forgiven for hoping this play may vanish never to appear again.
The set looked initially complex but to no end. It was confusing set on different levels and the minimalistic representations confused a lot of children. Seeing as how they made up fifty per-cent of the audience it did seem a lot of the crowd to confuse. But they did. Children were restless and zoning in and out with their attention.
This show emits unclearly its true intentions, it shows cruelty, bigotry and bullying. All presented with a merry dancing group of people. Thankfully they were excellent in their synchronicity and their moves must have taken hour upon torturing hour to get that good but good they are, again its not the cast it’s the material. Sad mishaps with the sound didn’t help as microphones worked sometimes and sometimes not.
In summary as reviewer and staying totally objective one could only really say great cast, shame about the play. There is something else one may also say for continuity: “Look at The Walliams, The Walliams is in the all together the all together, naked as the day that he was born!"”
This is a One Star Review
Owen J.Lewis