Mayflower Theatre, Southampton – until 19 August 2017. Reviewed by Jo Gordon & Harry Gordon
4****
Stomp has been banging out the beats, delighting audiences globally now for 26 years. Five STOMP companies perform across the world keeping hardware stores in business having used up 20,000 drumsticks, 40,000 brooms, 60,000 boxes of matches, 30,000 bins and 35,000 litres of black paint!
Harry (a sensory seeker who thinks loud noise could only be improved by making it louder!) and I love to tap our pens, drum a table, bang a pot and generally annoy the rest of the family with our constant noise, so we knew this was going to hit the spot for us. The set resembles something from a scrapyard. The show starts nice and quiet with a lone man and a broom making gentle sweeping noises, more and more cast members join him and the fun begins! A multitude of rhythms are beaten out on an array of everyday junkyard finds like metal sinks, ribbed pipes, shopping trolleys (the supermarket will no longer be a dull visit for us), basket balls, plastic oil drums, buckets ….. the list is endless!
There is a very clever moment where the lights are down and we are given a quieter musical moment using flip top petrol lighters, following the flames along and back again. Despite there being no dialect there is still plenty of comedy suitable for all ages and plenty of audience participation. As the show nears the end the theatre fills with a crescendo of noise beaten out on dustbins, dustbin lids and oil drums with energetic cast members flinging themselves around like Olympian gymnasts! It was at this point I had to hold Harry’s wheelchair down as he flung himself side to side with the beat, using his legs as drums and enjoying the fact you could feel the noise resonate through your body …. sensory seeking most defiantly accomplished!
A great show for all the family, a bunch of noise turned into something amazing.