Reader Reviews
Shockheaded Peter (Noel Coward Theatre, West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | This is exactly what live theatre should be-- something that could never be reproduced in celluloid or on paper. Edward Gorey has come to life in this wonderful staging with a life size dollhouse, macabre kabuki puppets, and a Greek musical chorus from the asylum. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 02 Aug 02 |
| oh dear, oh dear, you must be sad if you can go to Shockheaded Peter, with or without the Tiger Lilies and be bored. The fault lies with you, modom, and not the show. And saying I am the mother of a thumbsucking son and therefore found it offensive is pitiful. Have just seen it for the second time and yes, the show is less than it was. The band aren't as good, the vocalist does mangle the songs, but if you haven't seen it, don't be put off by these whingers. It's just a fabulously inventive, dark show. Not as good as it was but still great - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 18 May 02 |
| I agree with the previous poster, but I must add a star in rcognition of the non-singing cast, who are as wonderful as ever. Last year I took two groups to see this show at the Piccadilly: one a group of teenagers, the other an extended family outing. Both times it was a glorious five-star experience, and now it's possible to see just how big a part Martyn Jacques played in that success. It's not just his eerie voice and the fact that you could hear his words, it's his timing, his way with a musical cadence and his ability to hold an unresolved chord until the audience had to scream the ends of lines back at him. He looked like a serial-killing clown with a question mark over his sanity, and he was a joy. This replacement is an embarrassment. No sense of comic timing - nor of comedy full stop - and a contempt for the audience which leads him to mangle the words till they're incomprehensible. Every time he came onstage he killed the show with the thud of unidiomatic presence. The whole thing's a tragedy almost as great as that which befalls Augustus, Conrad et al. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 17 May 02 |
| I have never been so bored and miserable in the theatre in my life! Perhaps as the mother of a 2 year old who sucks his thumb I had reason to find some parts offensive... but it wasn't squeamishness but BOREDOM that got me. In particular, I couldn't really understand the main vocalist, which meant the songs were lost on me - my companion, who loved the Martin Jacques CD, agreed. So be warned - this is not the same show which received last year's rave reviews! - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 17 Apr 02 |
