Catchy! The Great Plague Musical
“Imagine Oliver Twist waking up on Avenue Q with a
bad hangover and an embarrassing disease.”
Summer ’06 saw me joining the cast of the new musical ‘Catchy!’ which was produced by Total Beast and performed at Bedlam Theatre throughout the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. A bawdy comedy set in mid-1660’s plague-time London, the show charts the story of a pair of star-crossed lovers who fall for each other over the body-collecting cart. A classic comic plot ensues as the lovers try to thwart the evil intentions of the girl’s father, the Mayor of London, who intends her marriage to diarist Samuel Pepys as part of a wider plot to burn down London town and build his and Christopher Wren’s vision of a new city!
As part of the chorus I played several roles, including a feisty vegetable trader, a battleaxe fishwife and a precocious young prostitute. The show was full of original songs and dancing; an energetic and bawdy romp which had audiences humming the tunes as they left the theatre. Edinburgh itself was a fantastic experience, and the first time I’ve been there during festival time; I loved being surrounded by such a range of theatre and culture and saw as much as I could. Distributing flyers on the Royal Mile was certainly an experience; only at the Edinburgh Festival could you walk around in full 17th Century costume and have it seem so normal…
Catchy!
****
Dickens’ Oliver Twist and the oeuvre of Graham Norton appear to collide in the deliciously vulgar ‘Catchy!’. Seventeenth century plague-ridden London provides the grim setting for this classic love story, replete with tyrannical fathers, mistaken identities and lovers from opposite sides of the track. Diarist Samuel Pepys becomes a hilarious central character, hamming his way through the production in true pantomime-baddie style.
Abundant innuendo and puns keep the audience happily sniggering throughout. Despite a brief drop in energy during the middle section, the impressive cast clearly loved every minute. Particularly convincing were Lizzie Feltham as the cheeky Gwen, and Sam Millard’s lovesick Tom. Gorgeous period costume and a fabulous Brian May wig complete the picture. For pure, simple entertainment value you can’t go wrong with a bit of ‘Catchy!’
THREE WEEKS
Related Links
www.totalbeast.co.uk
www.bedlamfringe.co.uk
www.edfringe.com
Catchy! Photo Gallery