The Other Palace, Victoria – 4th & 5th November 2024
Reviewed by Ava Clarkson
5*****
The Other Palace in Victoria is fast becoming my favourite small theatre venue in London. Tucked away behind the hustle and bustle of central Victoria, The Other Palace is a lively and friendly space where creative and inventive shows are actively encouraged and shared. The audience seems to be a fresh generation of theatre goers who arrive early and spend time in the welcoming “The Other Gin Palace”, which is in itself a lovely bar to hang out in. The 312-seat main theatre opened in 2012 and is a steep banked intimate venue where every seat has a great view. The Other Palace promises to be the theatre for discovering, developing, exploring and celebrating theatre – and tonight it delivered again on its promise.
Pop Off, Michelangelo! premiered at The Edinburgh Fringe in July of this year and became a critically acclaimed comedy show. I would describe this show as “Marmite” – you’re either going to fall about laughing or stand up and leave. This show is not for the faint hearted and is clearly aimed at an open minded, queer audience. It is certainly not for you if you are easily offended! With hilarious songs such as “I want a man to F&$k me, and God not to mind”, gay orgies and sexual jokes, innuendos and stereotyping come thick and fast throughout.
A simple stage set in front of us shows we are in the renaissance era. Moveable columns are cleverly used throughout the show as props and become chairs, desks and a courtroom. We meet friends Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci as best friends in Florence. The pairs realisation that they are both gay, brings them to the decision to “play it straight” in order to become the most famous artists in the world with the ultimate aim of painting for the Pope, who is the only man who can talk to God, who in turn with forgive them for being gay. As we follow them along their journey, there are hilarious encounters at networking events and the artists academy. During their attempts to get to the Vatican, they are chased down by Savonarola, an extremist moralist who campaigns to stop all Gay men as we hear that sodomites are not in favour with the church and will be hung for their crime.
Catchy pop style songs throughout are both clever and hilariously camp. ‘I Want to be your Renaissance Man’, ‘I Want You’ and ‘Pick Me Girl’ are not only worded brilliantly with laugh out loud referencing to the likes of Lady Gaga, Marissa Tomei and Cher, but also calling out straight stereotyping with lyrics such as “I want you like a straight man wants a grill”! The voices of the 6 strong cast are all outstanding and show the true emotion in each song, whether funny or indeed touching as in the beautiful (but understatedly funny) song “When you met your son Jesus” which asks the question to God, what did he do when he met his son?
The leading roles of Michelangelo and Leonardo played by Aiden MacColl and Max Eade, both who are exceptional as they throw themselves into the parts with enthusiastic campness and zealous emotion. The Pope played by Paul Toulson is a vape smoking, self-important, villain who antagonises his devoted catholic subjects whilst looking for an artist to paint his ceiling. Conn McGirr (Salai) brings the love interest and stands out in the dance numbers for his exuberant hip swinging. Lucy Carter plays the darker role of Savonarola with villainous gusto and Maiya Quansah-Breed plays the mother to the two boys with a hilarious ‘chav’ style of deliverance.
Pop Off, Michelangelo the book, music and lyrics are written by Dylan MarcAurele and is directed by Joe McNeice, with choreography by Sundeep Saini. Dylan MarcAurele during an interview at the Edinburgh Fringe stated that during a trip to Rome, a tour guide told him how a very tortured Michelangelo was – gay, deeply religious, self-disciplined to an extreme, likely celibate his entire life – in comparison to his artistic rival, Leonardo Da Vinci – also gay, but who lived more freely, wore pink tights, wrote backwards, had ADHD, etc. This prompted him to write the show with the question “What if these two guys were once BFFs?”
This short ‘un-factchecked’ musical comedy packs a lot into just over one hour. Two gay best friends trying to become the world’s greatest artist so God will forgive them for being gay is a triumph. A standing ovation was much deserved as the audience had enjoyed a laugh out loud experience alongside shocking but hilarious sexual innuendo throughout. All the cast bought a comedic warmth to their characters and gave us a short show to remember.