Act One Takes Off From CF10!

This week, for two nights only, CF10 was transformed into Malaga airport for Act One’s musical sensation: ‘Departure Lounge’. On arrival, the audience was greeted by air hostesses who gave out ‘boarding passes’ for programmes and read the “tuck your head between your knees” AKA the “please turn your phones off” brief before the performance begun. The curtain was up and the 4 main characters, Jordan (Charlie Hammond), Pete (Dan Miles), J.B. (Morgan Browne) and Ross (Henry Morgan) were on stage and in character, improvising faultlessly for half an hour while the audience filtered in. The auditorium (OK, CF10) was full, and the banter flowed right from the very first song, “We want to shag your daughter, that’s what your daughter’s for! We are the Brits on tour!”

Cast with Producer – Andrew Greenhalgh, Director – Josh Day and Musical Director – Laura Phillips

And so begun the laugh-a-minute show with plenty more crude and comical lyrics to satisfy even the creator of Sickipedia. It’s ‘The Inbetweeners’ meets ‘Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents’ in a coming of age story, with a soundtrack a lot like that of ‘Benidorm’ – you get the picture! The boys were covered in fake tan, with standard Brit-abroad farmer’s-tan lines under England football shirts and wife-beaters, you know, all the really classy stuff you see in Spanish holiday resorts…

Quite often when you go to an amateur production, you’re tempted to bring your earplugs for the singing. Not when you go to Act One. Although a lot of the singing in the larger group numbers was like football chanting on the terraces at Stamford Bridge, it suited the characters in the role of the modern ‘lad’, but in contrast, the four part harmonies and musical arrangement were spot on.

“Thursday Night”- downing it all in 8,7,6…

The show covered all angles of male insults, including animal references, “I’d like to give her a good shearing! Baaaa! Baaaa! Who’s your shepherd?” Now, we’re in Cardiff, the sheep-shagging capital of the world; who doesn’t love a good sheep-reference joke?

The question of ‘manliness’ naturally came up, with celebration for Jordan who had apparently “shagged” half of the Costa del Sol, wheareas Ross was frequently called ‘Runty’ and mocked for still having his virginity in-tact, after a week in Malaga.

Waiting, and waiting, and waiting… y’know?

Sexuality was also a frequent topic of conversation with much debate over, and even a song devoted to the word: ‘gay’. The four-part harmony and Frankie Valli-style falsetto ending to the song was a very clever reference, (December 1963 (Oh, What a Night) – get it?).The song ended with two boys on all fours with the other two behind them with their trousers down which was both conceptually and visually comical.

“Why Do We Say Gay?” – Not by the Act One cast (theirs was better than this), but have a listen while you scroll – it’s hilare.

All this talk about the ‘lads’ and I’ve not yet mentioned the leading lady! Llinos McCann played ‘Sophie’ who is the one girl all the boys remember. She was very confident in her performance and was both cheeky and extremely funny; the Desperate Scousewives would be proud of her Scouse accent!

You could tell that they were all enjoying themselves by their expression, enthusiasm and energetic performance; even pulling one unsuspecting audience member up onto the stage where she promptly fell over, then ran off trying to hide the fact she was turning bright red. Pete was possibly the funniest character, made even funnier by his Welsh accent – everything is funnier in a Welsh accent.

The entire cast and crew – some very talented people!

So the next time you hear that Act One are putting on a musical – or a play for that matter – make sure you get yourself down there and see it because you’ll see the next rave review and wish you had. Just like you are right now.

This flight has taken off, all passengers wanting boarding passes should book a ticket for the next flight!

If this has left you hungry for more, Act One are putting on a Variety Show in aid of Cancer Research on Tuesday in Solus. GO. It’s for a great cause and you WILL regret it if you don’t!

Click here to see a snippet of what you missed if you weren’t on the flight! – “Thursday Night”