REVIEW | Rockstar, King’s Head Theatre
★ ★ ★ ★
Reviewer - Bronagh
*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review
Rockstar has catapulted into Kings Head Theatre, as part of the MT Pride Lab. The audience are treated to the classic tale of a rockstar – think sex, drugs, rock and roll – as well as the love story between Jack and Billy, two singer-songwriters who are teetering on the edge of success, fame and fortune. When their agent suggests they recruit a female lead and become ‘The Outside’, cracks start to form, and sacrifices are made.
Firstly, the cast are brilliant and really do become their characters. Charlie Purbrook as Jack is the perfect rockstar, with his good looks and brooding presence. Perhaps the weaker singer of the trio, but this is in no way detrimental to the show. Watching Emily Sawtell is like watching real-life music royalty, with her wonderful voice, presence, and her ability to channel Mara’s more vulnerable and sassy traits. Will Mugford’s performance as Billy is standout, his vocals and keyboard playing skills are fantastic. Olly Medlicott, as well as writing and directing, plays The Outside’s agent to perfection, absolutely channeling the stereotypical, money hungry agent that is often presented to audiences.
Medlicott has created a well-crafted and believable show, drawing influences from horror stories that most of us will have heard from the music industry. The plot and characters are all believable, and almost like watching a drama series about the tribulations of fame, as well as the perks. The themes explored are important and interesting, however, they do fail to delve deeper and really explore them. Homophobia, abuse of power from the agent and drug use are mentioned and do remain prominent throughout, however, don’t really go beneath the surface. In my opinion, the likes of bi-phobia could have been explored in much more depth and the point really driven to the audience
The music in Rockstar is good, however, I thought a lot of the songs sounded very similar to one another. Luckily they are good songs, all originals inspired by the likes of Queen and The Killers which are decent to listen to. The songs did all explore the character’s inner thoughts, helping progress the story and to help the audience understand the range of emotions The Outside are going through. Also, going from scene to song, scene to song did feel quite repetitive especially due to the backdrop not changing at all.
Overall Rockstar is a good show, and a pleasure to watch. A few nit-picks, but nothing serious; with a few tweaks here and there it could really be something special.
