The Revellers Society review
The Revellers Society review
Stylish, retro and interactive, Revellers Society is really fun and absolutely fab. Dominika Fleszar reviews.
The Revellers Society is a club of eccentric individuals from all over the world who present their respective acts for the audience’s joy. And trust me – that is all you need – or want – to know before you head to OSO Arts Centre.
I won’t spoil what the show is exactly about, for the surprising and impressive variety is one of its strongest points, but expect a little bit of everything in three acts: from Broadway jazz to dramatic reading, to Weimar-style decadent cabaret, to a pandemic-inspired love song, to psychic trickery, to ghost stories – and everything in between. Oh, and there’s a twist! Not an earth-shattering one, but satisfying nevertheless.
The Revellers Society is, first and foremost, really funny. Effortlessly funny. The writing and direction by Ian McFarlane are the real revelations, as although the stories themselves are admittedly – and deliberately – simple, they’re not simplistic; quite the contrary, in fact. The writing is sublime, punchy and dynamic with audience participation galore.
The company has a lot to commend it. It consists of actors of exceptional power and charisma, made even more visible by the deceptive simplicity of the material. Laurie Denman as Gleblii Von Vonvollavitch and Christina Meehan as his paramour, Pavalonia Mitzsiploski, do not dip in sexual innuendos, they jump in, holding their noses and – in a very hilarious attempt of Eastern European accents – praying not to be drowned. Alice Rose Fletcher as Hollywood bombshell Cissy Holliday ad Keith Merrill as paranormal investigator Gilbert Hayes are frivolously and sweetly romantic, and Nicholas Southcott gives an act full of surprises. All five of them manage to show a not-insignificant amount of acting, dancing, vocal and musical talents.
But the real star of the show is Peter Land as Aubrey Everett, an elderly actor desperate to make his big comeback. In a pretty wondrous manner, the show gives him a ballad, a dramatic monologue, a comical reading and even a big twist reveal – and he goes through it all in a charming, effortless fashion that is bound to make you forget that his performance is, in fact, a performance.
Revellers Society is the triumph of simple joys. It is a licensed peddler of light-hearted emotional dope to every audience in London and beyond.
- Runs until 12 September 2021.
OSO Arts Centre, Barnes.
Image: Christina Meehan & Laurie Denman in The Revellers Society
