Legends Of Lockdown
Vaudeville Theatre • JUNE 9TH 2021 •
On paper I wasn’t sure this production was going to work quite as well as it ultimately did. A big West End venue, a 2.5 hour run time (incl. interval), dry ice, spotlights and a starcloth all waiting for a cast of social media personalities who had found viral fame providing an entertaining lifeline throughout the 16 month cultural lockdown by creating a variety of comic characters, homespun sketches and musical routines, often performed and recorded in their bedrooms, or on occasion spilling out onto the streets where they live. Now it was time to see if these creators of countless 1 minute video wonders could meet the expectations of a live theatre audience. Would the undeniable online charm of these viral kings and queens transfer to the somewhat more traditional setting of a live theatre? As I took my seat I was sincerely hoping so as I had noticed that the space these performers had hitherto been able to call their own was being infiltrated by a number of A list celebrities who, after an extended period with no work or income, decided that these previously ignored channels of YouTube, TikTok and Podcasts were suddenly incredibly appealing, and so it seemed fitting that the Vaudeville Theatre was the setting for this band of social media stars to fight back, and bring their collective talents onto this more mainstream platform. Would they be as successful here as their celebrity counterparts were being on non-mainstream media?
Despite an unfortunately mistimed first cue that got things off to a slightly shaky start, tonights hosts Kerry Boyne (1.8k TikTok followers) and Sooz Kempner (53.2k twitter followers) were quick to recover having been given permission to start the evening via video from another viral sensation Jackie Weaver, (30.9k twitter followers) she of Handforth Parish Council fame. This was followed by the first ‘act’ of the night Austyn Farrell (433.3K TikTok followers) who gave an explosive, feel good performance recreating two of his most popular videos, The Greatest Showman (12.5m TikTok views) and Quaran-Tina Turner (over 20million social media views). Suddenly the lines between social media star and West End star didn’t seem quite so clearly defined as Austyn and his group of dancers powered through two faultlessly executed, hi energy dance routines. We were on track for an incredible night as the next performance came courtesy of Phillippa, the hilarious comedy alter ego of Naomi Cooper (4.7k twitter followers), a middle class ‘yummy mummy’, who proved a worthy successor to Penelope Keith’s ‘Margot Ledbetter’ and Victoria Wood’s creation ‘Kitty’ who had been played by Patricia Routledge. Naomi Cooper’s routine was equally well observed, and as the laughs came thick and fast, my initial fears that this was going to be more ‘gong’ show than West End show had all but disappeared.
In true Variety style, what followed next was in an altogether different vein, as 8-year-old Rufus Bateman took to the stage to tap dance his way into the hearts of the audience and, alongside mum Lizzi Gee (4.3k twitter followers), performed a flawless routine that had already become an online sensation. As the love in this enthusiastic auditorium seemed to reach a new level as mother and son took their bow, this was entertainment in every sense of the word. Unfortunately, what followed was one of the show’s few missteps, as Mufseen Miah (16.7k twitter followers) and Spencer Cooper (5.1k twitter followers) from the podcast Queer Talk (3.4k twitter followers) took to the stage for a fairly standard interview conducted by show hosts Kerry & Sooz. It’s not that the popular podcasters shouldn’t have been included, (I was already subscribed to the always interesting Queer Talk, with podcasts in general having been a mainstay of my own lockdown survival kit), but it made the evening feel decidedly more ‘VidCon’ than West End show. It also felt like a missed opportunity not to have the podcasters actually host this interview section themselves, maybe to have turned the tables and interviewed the hosts Sooz and Kerry as a way fo giving us a better flavour of their personalities and the podcast they produce. It’s the same criticism I have for an interview in the second half, this time with TikTok sensation Joe Carter who, despite his impressive 1.7m TikTok audience, (a number he was determined to log on to his phone in order to confirm… whilst we waited) seemed somewhat awkward out of context. Fortunately, the first half was brought to a close with some camp musical glitter and glamour in the form of Rob Madge, (91.1k TikTok followers) one of the more experienced stage performers on tonight’s bill.
The second half opened with Sooz Kempner giving us a slice of her lockdown fan favourite, Liza Minelli, sidestepping the popular Donald Trump (0 twitter followers) verbatim speeches in favour of a fully blown musical number, and despite freely admitting there would be people in the theatre to young to even know who Minelli was, (do we really live in such times?), it was a glorious tour de force nonetheless. More comedy came in the form of Seán Burke (57.3k twitter followers) who delivered a slick routine filled with references to the pandemic and social media, unsurprising given he has been stuck in his room making videos for the last year. Rosie Holt (88.3k twitter followers) was the penultimate act, bringing her online persona ‘The Woman’ to the stage. An upper class, Telegraph reading, Brexit supporting invention whose online rants have been clocking up online views in their hundreds of thousands, It suffering slightly coming second this evening to Naomi Cooper’s ‘Phillippa’, but remaining entertaining nonetheless.
The evening was brought to a triumphant end in true West End style by Oscar Conlon-Morrey (7.7k twitter followers) who, like the show’s opener, brought a number of his online greatest hits to the stage. With costume changes a plenty, Oscar’s set was skilfully delivered piece, woven together by a number of video links. A slight interloper given his professional credentials as an award winning actor, starring in a theatrical production of Only Fools And Horses the day the lights went out in theatres across the country, he, like everyone else on the bill, spent lockdown creating a series of hilarious theatre themed videos that ended up going viral, and in doing so kept the smiles on our faces and the yearning for theatres to re-open, alive.
On the whole Legends Of Lockdown was a runaway success, showcasing some very worthy talent as well as producing what ironically felt like a solid couple of hours of old style variety, albeit brought bang up to date for a 2021 audience. The big stars of tomorrow just might be found amongst the viral video producers of today and, based on tonight’s performances, it would seem social media really does have talent.
★★★★
