SMuTS: Little Shop of Horrors

Firstly, sorry for the lack of blogging lately, I have had a mad week with deadlines slash absolutely nothing interesting has happened in my poor mundane life.

Secondly, a heads up. This review could end up being completely biased due to my amazingly talented best friend Amy Moore being in the chorus and 100% stealing the show for me. (And others but I'll come onto that...)

SMuTS is the Sussex University Musical Theatre Society, and for 23 years now they have been producing/directing/wowing with their adaptation of a well known musical on a shoestring budget as governed by the Sussex Student Union. And this is where I'd like to begin. The production quality of Little Shop of Horrors was perfect, I'm sure a multitude of favours had to be called in (where else would a production team have acquired so many plant pots and plastic flowers?!), yet it was pulled of phenomenally. 

I confess, that as an avid Musical Thespian-goer, Little Shop of Horrors has somehow escaped me my entire life, but it was surprisingly enjoyable to watch a show of which I had no idea how the story was going to go. Sass and camp. Those are my words of choice to describe the Howard Ashman penned musical. Sass and camp. Yes!

Now for the nitty gritty...

The cast. The cast were overall wonderful. That girl who opened 'Skid Row' was just incredible right? Can you tell who my friend was yet? Is my bias coming across yet? But in all fairness, Amy Moore really did open with a sensational front. And that isn't just from me. In the interval I could hear multiple complete strangers retelling how her voice was beautiful, and a stand-out from the first half. How Amy wasn't cast in the Crystal/Ronette/Chiffon trio really did escape me, and that was echoed by the paying public heavily during the interval.

The three girls playing Crystal, Ronette and Chiffon set the tone of sass, with their constant appearances as a three-piece chorus throughout the show. Although their sass was unreal, I felt at times that their chemistry needed to be worked on, as they were all fighting for the limelight. I must say though, Rebekah Thomas who played Chiffon had an incredible voice, and coming out of such a small body it was a very pleasant surprise. 

I simply cannot ignore Jacob Jackson's portrayal of Seymour, our dorky, love-shy protagonist turned villain. His voice and accent was perfect, and I feel like for me, Jackson will always be Seymour regardless of any other productions of Little Shop of Horrors I may see. My final accolade within the casting, obviously has to be Georgia Lewis in the role of Audrey. Her consistency of the acting, body language and belief in the role was astounding, you could really tell she had thrown herself into the part of Audrey. Although I have only mentioned a scattering of names, that's not to say that the rest of the cast weren't sublime.

A quick mention to Lewis Klein, the director. There were some really genius moments within the show, the use of lighting was used perfectly to hide some of the stage-uglies and the use of the theatre foreground added an extra dimension. Finally, the music, and their triumphant conductor, Cody Bamford Bridges. A sign of an amazing Musical is all down to the Musical Director, and the way Bamford Bridges was jiving and shaking his thang, whilst conducting the orchestra, showed the audience how much he obviously loved the music. And his love for the music sung laps around the Old Market Theatre.

Little Shop of Horrors, continues to run until Saturday (1st March). So if you are in need of something to do, get yourself down to The Old Market Theatre in Hove. Tickets are £10/£12 and available from here. 

The Signalman, Brighton

It made complete sense that after a wine-fuelled Saturday night a roast dinner would probably be the most sensible idea I could fathom. After a well recommended pub had no spaces, we decided to venture into the unknown and try somewhere completely new, The Signalman on Ditchling Rise.

This meal had the premise to be magical, after all there is nothing better than pub-grub on a hangover, yet I was left significantly ambivalent. The venue is great, a really traditional pub, housed in an old hotel opposite from London Road Station. The decor was unique, and the big windows induced a bright pub, contrary to that dingy stereotypical hovel often associated with pubs nowadays.

The main issue with the meal was in fact the service from both the front of house staff and the kitchen staff. Albeit it was an averagely busy Sunday, yet waiting 45 minutes for a roast beef at a pub solely serving roasts is somewhat extreme. When the meals arrived, they looked very visually pleasing, and I enjoyed my meal a lot. But my friends, who ordered the roast lamb, were bitterly disappointed with the poor cuts of meat they were provided with. Furthermore, about 5 minutes into eating our meals, my friend found a black curly hair nestled within her cabbage. Without being crudely sceptical, either the chef was sporting a raging afro, or this hair was not from their head at all. When we took the meal back to the bar to complain, we were told we had either a 30 minute wait, or could be refunded the cost. After already waiting 45 minutes, my friend decided a further half an hour was completely unnecessary so the latter option was taken. The staff were not at all apologetic, and made light that the hair looked like it was from their head chef, rather than the sous. Yes, hair in meals is a very easy mistake, but it was the resulting attitude which put a dampener on our experience.

All ranting aside, my roast beef was really enjoyable. And the main thing I took from it was that parsnip puree is a genius foodie invention, and I will definitely be trying it myself. The roast potatoes were crisp, the cabbage was seasoned well and the carrots had an enjoyable, sweet crunch. Incredibly, the yorkshire pudding was home-made, which is becoming a dying art-form in UK pubs.

The portion size was really satisfactory, and I came away wanting to fall into a food coma. For £10.95 it was a fair prize, even if I was stung £3 for a glass of coke. 

The Signalman definitely has the potential to be a great pub, a bit of an attitude tweak and an increase in attention to detail and it will be there. 

Find The Signalman at 76-78 Ditchling Rise.