FOUR STARS
THE Southwark Playhouse
is on a bit of a roll at the moment. Its recent programme of musicals
and stage plays has been varied, interesting and crucially, great to
watch.
Its latest offering is
Dogfight, a musical by Ben J Pasek and Justin Paul, directd by Matt
Ryan and produced by Danielle Tarento. And it has "hit"
written all over it.
Set in San Franscisco
on the eve of Kennedy's election victory, a group of young US marines
spend their final night of freedom before being posted to Vietnam
partying.
As part of the
celebrations, they host a "dogfight", a rather unpleasant
and cruel competition where they aim to bring the ugliest date to a
party.
By a twist of fate, one
of the marines, Eddie Birdlace, happens upon a cafe where he meets
Rose, a waitress who has a passion for music.
They chat, he asks her
to the party, she goes, he starts to feel uncomfortable about
bringing her, she a nice time til she hears about the dogfight bet
and then storms out.
It is a predictable
love story of boy meets girl, gradually and unwittingly falls in love
with her, they fall out, get back together and he realises the error
of his angry ways.
Despite the predictable
storyline there is much to recommend this production, not least the
beatuiful music and the fantastic cast who are essentially a group of
unknowns.
Indeed Laura Jane
Matthewson makes her stage debut as Rose and was absolutely awesome.
She portrayed Rose brilliantly showing her quirkiness, vulnerability
and humour as well as the excitement at being asked on a date for the
first time and a ballsy attitude at dealing with Eddie's complex
character.
Jamie Muscato excels as
Eddie, full of pumped up testosterone and out for a good time.
As well as the solid
and consistently good performances from all the cast it was a
beautifully staged show - passionate and energetic with moments of
sadness and great humour. A winner.
Dogfight is on at the
Southwark Playhouse, Newington Causeway until Saturday, September 13.
Tickets from £12. Visit www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk or call the box
office on 020 7407 0234.
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