Diary of a Grammatical Misfit

Before I went I kept thinking of the name Frank, as I often do when I have the word flamenco on my mind - even before some joker decides to spell it with a K… But now the production makes me think Jack. Not quite in the sense of jack shit worth seeing (some of the dancing was very good) but the phrase ‘jack of all trades, master of none’.

I used the phrase first in the interval when trying to sum up the problem of the Karen Ruimy - the woman whose name was in the title, who stood at the front of the stage most of the time, who sung badly, who narrated worse and who danced less well than the rest of her stage-mates.

“Hmmm…” replied Redhead, studying the programme “and it says here that she started her career in finance rather than the theatre.”

Which explains a lot.

By the end of the show it was obvious that it wasn’t just Ruimy that was a jack of all trades - the whole show was master of none. Not quite a play, not quite a dance, not quite an anything frankly.

Some of the dancing was really good but the differing styles of the dancers really grated in the ensemble pieces, the story wasn’t great and the sub-plots clearly only added to add opportunities for more dance, the music would’ve been fine except for Ruimy, the narration was so insufficient it would have been better not to have it at all and overall it was the most disappointing piece of theatre I’ve seen in years.

This was the second west end production Redhead and I have seen that involved Craig Revel Horwood - the first being six dance lessons in six weeks. Perhaps it’s unfair to blame him for the failings of that play (he was only the choreographer) but it definitely isn’t for this one where he is listed as director and co-creator. I will avoid any production he has a hand in in future unless I hear it is worth seeing.