Review: The Dance Plague of 1518, New Wimbledon Theatre Studio

How much do we really know about what actually happened in history? And if we don’t know enough, how can we create theatre about it? The Dance Plague of 1518 tells us very simply: we “fill in the gaps”.

The plot follows a group of Theatre In Education students who are about to perform at a school in Milton Keynes, a school so terrible that “Ofsted refused to inspect them”. Their subject matter is the Dance Plague of 1518, a real historical event of which very little is actually known. So the four actors (Caoimhe de Brún, Harrison Macdonald-Taylor, Sam Trotman and Finn Ticket) embark on a quest, armed with the little information they have, to make a show that teenagers might actually engage with. What follows is a hilarious 90 minutes of songs, one-liners and a lot of dancing, as the cast play a myriad of characters: from a princess who escapes her village with her lover, to a priest with strange motives, and even a castrato choirboy, played by a puppet.

The performers exhibit an extraordinary amount of energy throughout the show, which is peppered with references to existing musical theatre. This is not a jukebox musical, all the songs are original, and the brief snippets of popular show tunes work really well. The original numbers themselves are well structured, with memorable melodies and lovely harmonies. Halfway through the performance, one of the actors quips that “this would be the Act One finale”, but we already know this; the song they are performing is so stylistically characteristic of that point in a musical. The songs are typical musical theatre – and that is a compliment. They draw on the best features of both modern and classic musical theatre, with one number serving as a pastiche of a Gilbert and Sullivan-style patter song. As I leave the theatre, the group in front of me are singing the final number with gusto, always a great sign of a good night at the theatre.

Some jokes don’t land as well, particularly one slightly over-extended section about different types of choirboys, but most are so well received that they can barely be heard over the roar of the packed audience. The exposition is also rather long and could be trimmed slightly to allow more time for the middle of the story, which feels a little rushed.

Shaina Taub, creator of Suffs, said in an interview that she altered certain details of the life of her protagonist, American suffragist Alice Paul, to better serve the story. In Hamilton, the line about ‘punching the bursar’ is not historically accurate either, but was invented to fit the rhyme. In Anastasia, the Winter Ball of 1917 that sets up the story never actually occurred. But does any of this affect the success of those shows? Not at all. Just like these three wildly successful productions, writers Tickel and Trotman have created a hilarious musical that proves no historical topic is off the table. If information is missing, simply ‘fill in the gaps’, add perfectly structured musical theatre tunes, and you might just have a hit.

The Dance Plague of 1518 is heading to the Camden Fringe this summer, and this workshop performance was set up by the writers to gather feedback on what they already have. And what that is is a solid piece of theatre that will entertain audiences and have them humming the songs long after the curtain falls. It’s a very entertaining night out that will leave you singing (and dancing) for weeks to come.

Book, music and lyrics: Finn Ticket and Sam Trotman
Director: Alex Maxwell
Choreography: Charlie Pinder
Head Technician: Ferdy Emmet

This show has completed its current run.