Brilliant casting brought to life this fun and poignant adventure – a trip for all the family!
Targeted at children ages 7-11, Who Let The God’s Out? takes one of the beloved books from Max Evans’ series about young boy Elliot who needs to save the world and save his mum, and turns it into a welcoming theatre production.
The impressive high quality set navigates the worlds of the Gods, Demons and ‘sub-optimal’ mortals. Exciting lighting and simple but effective scenery and props were combined well to capture the essence of the different environments and keep the audience hooked in.
The story follows young Elliot as he navigates a challenging time whilst caring for his mother who is battling illness, and manages to become entangled in the world of Constellations, Gods and Demons. Andy Owens put on a startling performance as Elliot, with wonderful vocal range and power. Owens truly captures the challenge of a naive boy who battles moral dilemmas and has the difficulties of acting like an adult whilst caring for his mum.
The storyline in the first half occasionally felt a bit rushed and lacked depth to truly become invested in the adventure, but in the second half the storyline picked up and gave the audience a well-rounded ending. One particular enjoyable element was the Queen of the United Kingdom being obsessed with “kicking butt” and received roars of laughter as she walloped Thanatos the demon. This scene was rounded of led with the Queen using her grandson’s book Spare to deliver the final blow which showed the thoughtfulness of providing jokes for both the younger and older audience members.
These jokes were a consistent theme throughout the play with lots of laughter at the slapstick comedy of a dressed up cow and chuckles at the references to Theresa May’s dancing. One might argue some of the jokes could have been brought a little more up to date to give the children a chance at understanding without the post-joke whispers of parents having to explain the references. However, broadly there was a good balance of lighthearted content against the incredibly poignant storyline of Elliot’s mum’s illness.
Credit should be given to the casting team who picked out five incredibly talented performers to play a number of versatile roles throughout the play. In particular, Harriet O’Grady wowed the audience with her wide ranging vocals as the Queen and Patricia Porshley Plum, whilst capturing the heartbreaking role of Eliot’s mum with sensitivity.
The songs throughout were sweet, if unmemorable. It felt that more could have been done with the variety of the music given this could be an introduction for young people to musicals. The stand out song was the classic evil villains song which the cast clearly enjoyed performing with fun dance moves and giggles from the audience.
The show is a high-quality production to get kids into the joys of musicals, and with fantastic casting to entice the audience, kids and adults alike will enjoy!
The show runs until 22 March in Polka’s Y C Chan Theatre in Wimbledon.