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Brassed OffLiverpool PlayhouseReviewed by Alan Thomson
Yes! What with whatsisname the gay one from Hollyoaks (in case his lawyer is reading this, I meant the character), reprising Ewan MacGregor’s role in the flick; and full, live, in-yer-face brass bands on stage, Brassed Off was a highly watchable comedy/tragedy/musical thingy. The production tackled the issues of unemployment, loyalty to unions or family, and tradition versus change, without getting po-faced or icky-sticky sentimental; and the acting was, well… fucking hell, it’s not meant to be the bloody Caucasian Chalk Circle. No, it’s something the whole family can go to and laugh, cry and have an entertaining (a concept unfortunately alien to many luvvie types) whatever. And then look slightly uncomfortable as your six-year-old sits there listening mesmerised to the sort of potty mouth colloquialisms that would have a sailor on shore leave with Tourettes agape at. Good stuff. By the way, did the people who originally wrote this stuff know that many brass bands in the nineteenth-century working-class communities were funded by pit bosses so that their employees would be distracted from politics? It’s all a plot comrades… |
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