"The combined effect is of reminiscent of an old vaudevillian circus; with clowns, freaks, musicians and theatrics all rolled into one. "Emma McAlpine gets swept up in The Suitcase Royale's junkyard show.
Perfectly at home in the Soho Theatre’s new cabaret bar, award-winning Aussie trio The Suitcase Royale bring Londoners their unique hybrid of junkyard theatre, comedy and music in The Ballad of Backbone Joe. Set in the pre-war Australian outback, characters including dim bare-knuckle boxer Joe; his conniving mentor Messy Dimes Dan and buffoonish detective Von Trapp are embroiled in a darkly comic tale of murder, intrigue and revenge. The plot gets a little confusing at times – due to the jigsaw puzzle narrative and back-and-forth flashbacks – but this matters little, as you’re swept up in the toe-tapping blues songs, imaginative rag ‘n’ bone stage and enjoyably silly dialogue.
There’s a charmingly-homemade feel to the set, with dioramas made out of cardboard boxes, suitcases that double up as cars and a bed sheet that serves as a canvas for some good old-fashioned shadow puppetry. The acting has a similarly relaxed feel to it, with corpsing and several audience asides from the trio as they miss sound effect cues, break props and fail to move set pieces into the right place. It’s all part of the comedy of course and these moments serve as an added bonus to the slapstick humour and ridiculous costumes.
Jaunty live music intersperses the narrative, as the characters take up various instruments including a double bass (naturally made out of a suitcase), accordion, guitar, banjo and drums to tell the story through "the musty scent of jazz". The combined effect is of reminiscent of an old vaudevillian circus; with clowns, freaks, musicians and theatrics all rolled into one show.
The Suitcase Royale do a good job of transporting you into their dusky world; on leaving the theatre, one feels almost disappointed by real life. Street lights are garishly bright and cars are just... well, cars. Happily, the next flight of fancy isn't too far away: the rag 'n' bone men bring their new show to Edinburgh next month.
The Ballad of Backbone Joe is at the Soho Theatre until Saturday 16th July.
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