REVIEW - 101 DALMATIANS - REGENTS PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE

This new production of the classic tale of 101 Dalmatians doesn’t quite hit the spot.

Fellow critics have also given less than positive reviews of this show, some have even been hurled abuse over their thoughts. I just thought I’d take this moment to remind people why theatre is so great, and that is because it is SUBJECTIVE. We will all like and dislike different productions, and some shows may divide opinion, just because one person dislikes a show doesn’t mean you will as well, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. And reviewing theatre does not mean you will like every production, integrity is essential and reviewers would be untrustworthy if they gave everything 5 stars. And on this occasion, I agree with the more negative reviews of this production…

This production is based on the 1956 novel by Dodie Smith, and is very different from the Disney film which we all know and love – I guess to ensure no copyright infringement occurs.

The staging by Colin Richmond upon first glance is impressive, spelling out the title of the show with the 0 in 101 being a red dog’s collar with a lead attached to a tree behind the stage. However, during the performance the large letters, rarely spelt out Dalmatians and I found them rather distracting. I spent much of the time wondering what the letters were now spelling out, after they had been rearranged. The flip side of each letter was used to transport the audience to different settings, for example to Dominic and Danielle’s house, which was effective.

I felt, especially in Act One, that the company did not utilise the stage to it’s full potential. For most of Act One the front section of the stage was used but not the entire stage. There were however some moments where the actors and puppets came out into the audience which meant people could see the puppets up close, which younger members of the audience enjoyed.

There are shows on in the West End which have incredible puppetry such as, Life of Pi and The Lion King, and therefore the standard for puppetry has been raised in recent years. Unfortunately within this show, the puppetry wasn’t quite on the same level. For Pongo and Perdi, the front half of the dogs are puppets with the actor’s legs making up the back part of the dog. This gives rather a strange look to the puppets, with the actors playing Pongo and Perdi at a rather odd angle to the dogs. Also, there is a key moment within the show which is supposed to illicit an emotional response within the audience as Perdi is leant over her puppy trying desperately to revive it. However, in this moment the actor playing Perdi (Emma Lucia) separates from the puppet, with another member of the company taking over from her. Lucia is then stood near the puppy, which feels strangely disjointed, and makes no sense whatsoever for her to be separate from the puppet.

The puppies are disjointed heads. I understand the need for this so they could have the vast number of puppies required, but detached Dalmatian heads still seemed an odd choice. What was even more strange was the cats. Which are a cat head attached to something which resembles the shape of tinsel, why the puppies and cats have no limbs is a question I’d love to know the answer to.

Kate Fleetwood plays Cruella de Vil very well, and delivers some powerhouse vocals. But some of the creative decisions surrounding Cruella felt unnecessary. Within this production she is portrayed as an Influencer, however she actually appears to be someone that spreads hate and bigoted opinions online. They have tried to make her seem right-wing but some of her lines contradict this. I also felt that they have tried to shove as many words like ‘hashtag’ and ‘triggered’ into her lines, which didn’t really make sense and made it difficult to know whether she was a protagonist or antagonist. Particularly as she was the only fully dimensional character within the show – we did not really dig deep into anyone else. Which made it difficult to emotionally connect to any of the characters.

I cannot fault any members of the cast, my issues here are with the material itself. The book by Johnny McKnight and Stage Adaptation by Zinnie Harris, are the downfall of this show. There are some lines scattered within the production which are meant to be humourous, but instead make members of the audience laugh at the show not with it. One such line is when Cruella says that her sister doesn’t have a backbone, and her nephew says something along the lines of ‘that’s because a train ran over it’ – which was rather on the cusp for a show marketing itself to children, and made me and my guest cringe rather than laugh.

The entire cast worked well with what they had, and the younger members of the cast that played Button, Lucky, Patch and Spud all gave brilliant performances and flawless vocals.

Act Two was better than the first Act, during which the show struggled to find its grove and came across as quite low energy. The end of Act One has a moment where the company all don spotted coats and lay down under Cruella to show her wearing the spotted coat she longs for – this was staged incredibly well and is very effective.

The music and lyrics by Douglas Hodge are mostly unmemorable, as I am sat writing this review the singular song I can remember is Litterbugs. Some of the lyrics within the songs are at best, weird, I remember in one number hearing someone sing ‘hyperglycaemia’ why? I have no idea.

The absolute highlight of the night is when a real Dalmatian puppy is brought onto the stage during the finale, the audience went crazy for this – me included! The finale is also the standout number in this production, the choreography is great and this is a high energy performance with the whole company in-sync. It’s a shame this isn’t the standard for all of the numbers within the show.

101 Dalmatians had great potential to be a must see summer production, but the writing in both the book and lyrics lets this show down. I wanted to love this show, but it failed to hit the spot for me unfortunately. I’m very sure that children and younger people will enjoy this show, this is evident in the audience’s reactions. However for people that frequent the theatre, it may not be one that sticks in you mind post curtain call.

{🎟 AD – PR invite – Tickets were gifted in exchange for an honest review}

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