A vague narrative and poor puns sink this overlong piece of gig theatre.Rating
Ok
Many a jukebox musical has a thin plot, often when they’re in the form of a biopic that races through the big hits of someone’s career. Yet I’ve never seen an example of one with such a weak storyline as Shantify, and it’s not helped by the script openly mocking how ridiculous the dramatic aspect is.
What that means is that this is essentially gig theatre, as the cast of six take on well-known hits and turn them in to sea shanties. It’s a cute idea initially, with Dolly Parton’s ‘9 to 5’ kicking off the show in style, even if some of the groanworthy puns do spoil it a little. But after a while the formula feels a little stale, with every song sounding like a forgotten B-side from 90s indie bands like The Mike Flowers Pops or The Divine Comedy.
Throughout there’s lots of fourth wall breaking, with the cast apologising for some of the cheesy jokes and sea-based puns, but it’s not enough to prevent wincing taking place as the attempts at humour are so lazy. When the storyline finally kicks off we learn that one of the six lads who live by the sea, wants to audition for “Britain’s Got Shanties” in front of judge “Simon Seaman”. And the gags are so weak it feels almost like anti-comedy, though it’s performed with the gusto of a seasoned pantomime performer.
The other characters have various subplots going on in the background, as one wants to leave London and return to the seaside, and another wishes to date the first girl he ever went out with, but they’re often forgotten about for long periods of time. This is largely an excuse to trot out shantified versions of familiar pop songs, and the choice of songs is what really lets this down, especially in the second half when the narrative is dropped completely.
None of the cast are actively bad I should stress, and all six singers (Cal T King, Alfie French, Michael Risely, Ollie Wray, Joe Bishop and Jack Whittle) have impressive voices. There are times where the tracks impress: the aforementioned ‘9 to 5’ works well, ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ is appealing in this format, and a version of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ is quite powerfully performed. But all too often they sound very, very similar, and songs like Michael Jackson’s ‘Man in the Mirror’ and The Darkness’s ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ are far blander than the original versions.
Your mileage can vary with this kind of production, and if you’re a big fan of sea shanties and very mainstream songs you may well enjoy it more than I did. But even then, the script really is frustratingly weak, the puns barely deserve to be called that as they’re examples of word play which don’t make a lot of sense, and it’s hard to care for these characters even if they do have gorgeous voices.
Written by Emily Wood
Musical Directors: Harry Style & Ashley Jacobs
Directed by Jo Parsons
Shantify runs at the Underbelly Boulevard until Sunday 14 June.
