Harry Blake, writer-director-thunder-god of Thor and Loki, had better hope that the Asgardians aren’t looking down the Bifrost at the parodic antics of this production. Or perhaps not?This comedy musical follows new god on the block Thor (“it’s pronounced Þórr”) as he begins to question the narrative that his family the gods are the centre of the universe, as part of which process he meets Loki, a young who has always felt similarly out of place among the giants she has grown up with. With his father Odin growing ever more paranoid about the impending Ragnarök, it’s up to Thor and Loki to find a way to find their way towards a new world, but can they mend their bridges before it’s too late for all beings of the Nine Worlds?
Norse mythology gets the Gods Behaving Badly treatment in this riotously funny show, with heavy doses of Wicked and Monty Python thrown into its DNA for good measure. No trace here of the nobility or elevation of the mythic tone or language that Tolkien inherited from these tales, though the piece still does a good job of following the spirit of Norse myths in many ways. It puts right several things the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s now mainstream interpretation omits: to name but a few, Thor’s association with music and song, the importance of gods such as Baldr, and the instability of Loki’s place as a member of the Norse pantheon.
Still more impressively, it weaves the best bits of several tales that come down to us as stand-alone adventures, such as the tradition found in Thrymskvida that Thor dresses as a woman to marry a giant, into a single narrative.
Foregrounding Loki’s marginalisation and separateness from the other Æsir (that’s gods to you and me) by pitching Loki as a girl that doesn’t fit into the roles society offers her (played marvellously by Alice Keedwell) is a smart call. The piece also intelligently transposes the main preoccupations of Norse mythology to a 21st century context: Odin’s growing anxieties over Ragnarok become the voice of right-wing insularity (“Let’s Build A Wall”), while Thor and Loki’s characterisations seems to be designed to resonate with millennial apathies about inherited power structures. There’s also some lovely knowing references to Norse mythology’s influence on Tolkien (and Game of Thrones (“as we all know, ravens can travel unrealistically fast”).
An impressively talented ensemble of actor-singer-multi-
Sound balance issues between instruments, backing, and vocal mics (always tricky in a space like HighTide’s travelling theatre) mean that some lyrics (and potential laughs) get lost. And while Loki’s characterisation is smart, it’s a shame to see her denied her terrifying, tricksterish glory slightly (in Norse mythology Loki plays a significant part in causing Ragnarok and fights against the gods in the final battle), and to see a slightly de-clawed Ragnarok where nobody actually dies. The ultimate evolution of this production would find a way to fully embrace the chaos and insanity of Norse mythology as well as reframing it to be accessible.
Super fun for younger audiences and mythology literati alike. Highly recommended.
That said, though, Thor and Loki is a deceptively smart, and very very funny, show; super fun for younger audiences and mythology literati alike. Highly recommended.
This West End production brings to the stage all of the fun, quotable moments of the film but with an added underlying story about children under pressure from pushy parents. Andrew Lloyd-Webber has used the songs from the Jack Black movie but added a number of extra solos and anthems, including the catchy and rebellious ‘Stick it to the Man’.