Little Shop of Horrors

This iconic cult classic automatically easily fills an auditorium with excited fans, eager to see how a new company manage a fascinating and challenging comedy musical. For the uninitiated, Little Shop of Horrors is set in a small florists who are struggling financially, but luckily discover a new species of plant which attracts business. Unfortunately the plant can only be fed with human blood, which for obvious reasons is quite inconvenient. The story also involves a sadistic dentist who’s hooked on laughing gas.

It’s bonkers and wonderful, and one of the best loved musicals. Unfortunately this company completely massacre it. One wonders why a group of young people who are unable to sing in tune decide to do a musical. Members of the audience walked out, openly mocked the company and looked completely bemused throughout.

The cast wear heavy makeup, possibly paying homage to the black and white film, most of which is sweated off in the first few minutes in the sweltering theatre. The set is amateur, and the props are almost non-existent. The plant itself is horrifically bad; its mouth moving out of time with its voice, it struggling to open and close, and looking more like a green volcano than a plant.

Bizarrely enough though, it’s incredibly endearing. The show is so terrible, that it’s hysterically funny. Almost anybody could perform Little Shop and make it at least slightly enjoyable. The costumes are terrible, the puppet is disastrously bad, and the singing is painful. But it’s an absolutely glorious failure. The cast were too ashamed to even take a bow at the end, and the audience sat for a while wondering what they’d just witnessed. Perhaps this company are being subtle and subversive, and going to the heart of what Little Shop is all about. Perhaps not.