Trash production image.Four guys clad in yellow dungaree-overalls, all supremely easy on the eye and talented. But perhaps more than that, they possess a naturally engaging charm, which they use to woo the audience from the opening seconds as they erupt from a trash yard and use every conceivable thing which comes their way, to create rhythm and dance routines.
Following in the tradition of STOMP which toured the world and had multiple runs in the West End, this troupe of four drawn from Spanish company Yllana’s stable of regular performers, comprises Gorka González, Fran Mark, Bruno Alves and Harold Gazeau who are utterly entertaining and watchable from their very first rustle of a black bin liner.
The guys' percussion credentials are unquestionable and the effervescent playfulness which exudes from each, ensures that through their individual and group efforts, they endear themselves entirely to the enthusiastic and eager-to-participate throng. Indeed, two hapless adults were called-up onto the stage, where they were required to don orange hard-hats and engage in a wholly frivolous plastic water bottle montage which served to focus everyone’s attention as they attempted to reproduce (among other things) Offenbach’s Galop Infernal (known universally as the Can Can). The jeopardy which invariably accompanies the introduction of amateurs onto a professional stage environment, is partly why they are so welcomed by fellow patrons and something always goes awry.
On the press night which I attended, the audience was an eclectic mix of generations — giggling, wriggling kids with their beaming parents, toe-tapping oldies, gaggles of gals and gays, the place was simply awash with people determined to leave the all pervading woes of the world, outside — if only for a joyous 90 minute respite from the grinding news cycle of international misery — and they certainly got their money’s worth.
Bags, bottles, batons, bins, big bouncing basket balls, tool boxes, lampshades, umbrellas, spanners, and a supermarket shopping trolley, all get their moment in the spotlight and at one point, (such is the bizarre nature of the show), even the theme tune to Game of Thrones was recognisably beaten out. It actually becomes something of a running theme when a couple of notes which seem vaguely familiar gradually make sense.
If you’re up for a fun night and you’re prepared to let yourself go, engage in a little harmless, audience, group participation, you will have an absolute ball, or baton, or bottle, or umbrella. After all, this is London!
Plays at the Peacock Theatre until Sat 1st March.
