Birmingham Hippodrome – 31 October 2024
Reviewed by Nadia Dodd
4****
I can honestly say I had no real knowledge of this trial or the outcome that followed and I still don’t know what the actually true trial outcome was, as in the hilariously funny performance by Awkward Productions the audience were able to vote on the guilty party at the end.
I can also state that I have never been to such a show that are so keen to involve their audience, it was genius and the audience members who were directly involved had some fantastic improvisational skills – well done you guys ! For audience members who don’t want to get up on stage don’t worry you can also join in by throwing snowballs – what fun!
Linus Karp and Joseph Martin who have both written the performance help us to recount the collision way back in 2016 between Hollywood Superstar Gwyneth Paltrow (Linus) and a retired optometrist from Utah, Terence Sanderson (Joseph).
Both are fantastic at recovering on stage if/when anything went slightly off course such as Gwyneth’s hair sticking to her microphone and sounding like a ticking clock or when she tried to have a quiet drink of water but must have forgotten that every little sound gets picked up by that same said microphone – adding to my thrill of live shows, anything can happen.
Apart from the humour and acting, the story unfolds also using song, dance and puppetry.
Plenty of references by Gwyneth of her privileged childhood, successful acting career, relationships and children. Apple her daughter plays quite a large part throughout the show, I wouldn’t want to give anything away of course.
The 80-minute performance starts with a run through of the background of both parties, followed by the collision itself of the ski slopes of Deer Valley, before the court case and verdict.
Paltrow and Sanderson are the stars of the play although we also meet many other characters along the way. My favourites appeared in puppet form, Joseph Martin proving yet again to be a hilarious yet skilled puppeteer. We also have an onscreen cameo from Drag icon Trixie Mattel as Paltrow’s mother, Blythe Danner, there were plenty of fans in the crowd you could tell.
Linus and Joseph have such a rare talent, they ad-lib and bounce off each other fantastically, no wonder the show is doing so well on the UK and Ireland tour.
With tongue-in-cheek humour, a great cast, sharp writing and lots of snowy fun, ‘Gwyneth Goes Skiing‘ is a great treat for anyone who can catch them at one of their next locations.