Salad Days at Riverside Studios

Salad Days at Riverside Studios

16 December, 2010
by: EmmaB

Salad Days at Riverside Studios - a little bit like a beef trifle

Do you remember that time in Friends when Rachel made half a trifle and half a roast dinner because the cook book pages got stuck together? Well, that's kind of what happens in Salad Days – the pages of two different musicals have got stuck together, so everything's trifle until you hit a big lump of beef. But – to continue this analogy – the audience must be full of Joeys, because it's curiously digestible.

The story starts with Timothy and Jane, two terribly English graduates, who decide to get married and take the first job that comes their way. This job just happens to be a month taking care of a piano that makes people dance. It's stupendously twee. Whilst most people are happy with a good ol' knees up in the park, the Minister of Pleasure and Pastime, who's one of Timothy's five uncles, wants to ban the piano because it causes congestion. But when the piano goes missing, we hit the beef: a flying saucer comes down to help them find it.

It's a strange, silly musical, but it works. Sam Harrison and Katie Moore are perfect as the English grads, singing, acting and dancing with tremendous amounts of twee and just the right amount of deadpan. They're brilliantly backed by the fifteen other actors who take on multiple parts, and director Bill Bankes-Jones uses his talented ensemble well. Kathryn Martin is especially wonderful as club singer Asphynxia; her understated and hilariously unsexy delivery of the ridiculous 'Sand In My Eyes' is a particular highlight of the musical.

As you would expect of a musical about a piano that makes people dance, there is a lot of dancing, so it's a good thing that the choreography by Quinny Sacks is so well done. With a combination of styles and some very energetic numbers, it's impressive that the cast can still sing at the same time.

It's also impressive that everything can be seen and that the un-miked cast can nearly always be heard, though the lyrics of the opening number do get a bit lost. The cast have a huge space to cover with banks of seating on either side, but thanks to good direction and a good bit of running, they fill the space and never have their backs to one side or the other long enough for it to be noticeable.

Although not a Christmas show (despite sing-along at the end with lyrics on a board panto style – cringe!) this is every bit as fun and frivolous as you want a Christmas show to be.

Salad Days runs at Riverside Studios until 6th January

Image: Friends (not Salad Days)

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EmmaB