{Title of Show}

Paradise in the Vault

This is a rather clever little show with plenty of nods and winks towards the audience. It’s a stripped down, bare bones musical with a black box aesthetic and only four chairs for a set. But don’t let that put you off as you’d be missing out on one of the most inventive musicals I’ve ever seen.

It involves two nobodies, who want to put on a stripped down, bare bones musical with a black box aesthetic and only four chairs for a set! Do you see where this is going? It is enveloped in the buzzword that is ‘meta’. But that’s no bad thing. It has the self-referential quality of an old “Ambush Bug” comic, or that of a Mel Brooks film.

The play is full of gusto, good comic timing and good music. My favourite piece of the play was the rather idiosyncratic “Change it. Don’t change it”, a quite quirky piece of music in the show. Probably it’s quirkiest. And that’s where it leads to a minor quibble. It’s a shame the rest of the music wasn’t as odd and curious as that piece.

Still, this is a fine performance and one that’s genuinely worth checking out.

Markus Helbig.