REVIEW: Bat Boy, Southwark Playhouse ✭✭✭✭

Georgina Hagan and Rob Compton in Bat Boy at Southwark Playhouse. Photo: Garry Lake

Rob Compton is quite remarkable in the title role here. The pain and anger and fear he expresses through vocal guttural cries combined with the way he uses his almost entirely naked body to establish precisely how instinctive, alert and animalistic his existence, his life in subterranean caves, has caused him to be, is enthralling to watch.

Bat Boy Cast Announced

Rob Compton to star as Bat Boy at Southwark Playhouse

Casting has been announced for Bat Boy: The Musical, which will sink its fangs into the London stage in a brand new production in The Large at Southwark Playhouse from Friday 9 January to Saturday 31 January 2015. Rob Compton will take on the title role of Bat Boy, alongside Georgina Hagen as Shelley Parker, Russell Wilcox as Sheriff, Nolan Frederick as Bud, Simon Bailey as Reverend Hightower, Andy Rees as Rick, Pepper Harrison as Ruthie and Lindsay Scigliano as Maggie. They join the previously announced Lauren Ward as Meredith Parker and Matthew White as Dr Parker. A strange bat-child is discovered in a dank cave in deepest, darkest West Virginia. For the small community of Hope Falls, the discovery threatens to shake its moral core and the residents turn to the town veterinarian, Dr. Parker, in the hope that he will know what to do with the strange creature. … Read more

Bat Boy The Musical Revived At Southwark Playhouse

Bat Boy The Musical at Southwark Playhouse

Ten years after the last known sighting, Bat Boy will return to sink his fangs into the London stage in a brand new production in The Large at Southwark Playhouse from Friday 9 January to Saturday 31 January 2015. A strange bat-child is discovered in a dank cave in deepest, darkest West Virginia. For the small community of Hope Falls, the discovery threatens to shake its moral core and the residents turn to the town veterinarian, Dr. Parker, in the hope that he will know what to do with the strange creature. Taken under the wing of Dr Parker’s wife, the boy is taught in the ways of the world and adjusts to life in this seemingly normal American family. However, ‘normal’ is merely the cycle on Mrs Parker’s washing machine. Secrets, lies and a mysterious case of dead cows leave our Bat Boy at the mercy of his God-fearing … Read more

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel: From 1945 to 2014 in a single hit

Morphic Grafiti's production of Carousel at Arcola Theatre

  Is a kiss with a fist better than none? Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel: From 1945 to 2014 in a single hit I know what you want me to do. You want me to write a review – to churn out something interesting and witty about Morphic Graffiti’s production of Carousel at the Arcola. And yes, I can attempt to satisfy you in that to an extent – lest I fail entirely in my role as reviewer/critic/ writer, or whatever it is you wish to call me. I can tell you about the space – a space that, when entered, inspired involuntary and audible gasps from its unsuspecting audience (somewhat attributable to the humidity, sure, but mostly due to the theatre’s radical transformation), the band perched high overhead preparing to chirp, and more ropes, pulleys and levers than PGL. Stuart Charlesworth’s design is simple and yet sumptuous, suggestive rather than … Read more