Camden Theatre: Come Dancing | Royal Stratford East

Publications by New Journal Enterprises

Home

Archive

Competition

The Review - THEATRE by RICHARD OSLEY
Published: 9 October 2008

Ray Davies (right) and Tony Timberlake

Hello you, hello me

COME DANCING
Royal Stratford East

THERE are a hundred good reasons to see Come Dancing, but the most convincing is the melancholic magic in Ray Davies’s storytelling.
As awkward as he sometimes appears here in a narrating role (you get the impression this thoughtful giant from Highgate Village would prefer a quiet pint in The Flask than effectively three weeks of public speaking) he retains an authentic, he-talks-you-listen quality.
But don’t go expecting to hear about his days as the chief troubadour in The Kinks or the songs he wrote and performed with that fantastic band.
The title song is all you hear from their historic archive.
Instead, Ray remembers the days before Waterloo Sunset, Lola and the rest, and goes back to when he was too young to join his sisters and the ravers headed to the Ilford Palais on Saturday nights.
Set against a 1950s soundclash where big band crooners are bustled out of the music halls by rock’n’roll revolutionaries, these semi-true recollections cover dancing, flirting and bit of knife crime whipped together in a whirl of colour and choreography.
Within it all, there are angry memories of racial bigotry and discrimination, thankfully told without the condescending schmaltz you will find in West End musicals.
The bundle of new songs are witty and catchy, the set time-warps you as close to the Palais as possible, and the costumes are brilliant.
It’s a classic formula upstaged only by Ray’s runs on the stage.
It wasn’t just me that was caught in the singer’s trance, others fell further.
The cast stayed behind for a question-and-answer session on the night I was there.
Overcome with emotion, a middle-aged German man in the second row welled up in tears as he got his chance to speak to his hero.
His voice cracked and he never got round to his question amid his blubbering. A little over the top maybe, but Ray’s charm and understated charisma wins the day.
Until October 25
020 8534 0310

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment:

» A-Z of Theatre
» Local Reviews
» Local Listings
» West End Reviews
» West End Listings
» Theatre Tickets
» Theatre & Hotel Packages