Skip to main content

Review of The Syndicate at Milton Keynes Theatre

Kay Mellor's The Syndicate has been a huge success on television having reached four series across the last ten years or so. Each following a different group of characters who find themselves the lucky winners of a lottery jackpot, it has managed to snare impressive cast members as well across the series. Due to the success, it isn't a surprise that this play, based purely on series one, has reached the stage. However, does television make good theatre, that is the question.

It seems, as a result of this production, it creates maybe what could best be described as average theatre, as across its short two-hour running time (which includes the interval) there are a few thrills and a good number of laughs, but few moments in the way of ground-breaking theatre. Directed (and starring) Kay Mellor's daughter Gaynor Faye, and a collection of relatively familiar faces from TV, the production is a standard offering. Directed with little flair, and a large number of scene changes, mostly in blackout, bar a couple of occasional entertainingly created ones. It all is just rather safe theatre.

The cast is a mixture of success from the excellent, such as Oliver Anthony as the rough and eager-for-trouble Jamie who hides a past and is ready for more trouble. Anthony makes the best impact in this mixed cast with his stage debut. The reliable William Ilkey brings the likeable Bob to the stage with a nice touch, while Samantha Giles plays Denise purely for laughs and most of the time this is fine, but does irritate at times.

Elsewhere, it is quite a mixture of performances, with Brooke Vincent simply a one-tone, and annoying chavvy Amy with little to like. Benedict Shaw provides, for such an important role as Stuart, little to get thrilled about, while Jerome Ngonadi plays the walk-on role of Newall with very little spark.

Rosa Coduri-Fulford's Leanne is played totally flat which is a huge disappointment for a character that clearly has one of the best backstories lurking, but in the end, as an audience, you end up not really caring. Completing the main cast is Gaynor Faye who plays lottery representative Kay full-on and pretty much for comedy and for what little the character has to do, it's fine, if underwhelming.

Ultimately, this production directed by Faye has an uninventive touch and fails to do enough to warrant a stage show and grasp the power of theatre and its techniques. It is very much just the TV series on stage and if that is what you want, head off to a theatre near you when it passes. However, you might really be best served by staying home and watching the series again and choosing the theatre for something with more grit and style.

Very much television on stage with not enough theatre drama to be found.
⭐⭐⭐


Performance reviewed: Tuesday 28th May 2024 at the Milton Keynes Theatre.

The Syndicate runs at Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday 1st June 2024.

For further details about Milton Keynes see their website at http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/milton-keynes-theatre/

Production photos: Craig Sugden



Popular posts from this blog

Review of Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

It is a truth universally acknowledged... No Stop! That is too obvious an opening line to a review of any Pride & Prejudice . Let us begin anew... Of all the classic regency novels from the 19th century, perhaps, one of the most famous is that of P ride & Prejudice by Jane Austen. The novel of manners telling the story of the Elizabeth Bennet her development and her family is maybe more famous now for the many adaptations the novel itself has had, including a certain wet-shirted Colin Firth edition from the nineties. Due to this, it is ripe for many a reworking and with a guaranteed audience waiting for it. Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) is one of the more bold of those adaptations. However, for all its boldness, does this new version work, or in truth, is it one step too far? The answer is a clear yes, as this dynamic and brilliant reworking by writer and director Isobel McArthur has proven since first taking to the stage back in 2018 and now into this second UK tour, reachin...
Read more

Review of The Rocky Horror Show at Milton Keynes Theatre

Richard O’Brien’s anarchic, surreal, and often incomprehensible musical, The Rocky Horror Show , has captivated audiences for over fifty years now. With this new tour, it feels as fresh and unpredictable as if it had just emerged from O’Brien's vivid imagination yesterday. While another review might seem unnecessary given the countless dressed-up fans who fill every theatre it visits, let’s go ahead and write one anyway. The Rocky Horror Show follows the adventures of Brad and Janet, a newly engaged couple. On a dark and stormy November evening, they run into car trouble and seek refuge at a mysterious castle reminiscent of Frankenstein’s. There, they encounter the eccentric handyman Riff-Raff, the outrageous scientist Dr. Frank N. Furter, and a host of other bizarre characters. What unfolds is a science fiction B-movie narrative that is at times coherent and at other times bewildering — yet somehow, that doesn’t seem to matter. I first saw The Rocky Horror Show in 2019 and exper...
Read more

Review of Cinderella, performed by University Of Northampton BA Actors at Maidwell Hall (Avenue Campus), Northampton

So, this is a bit different, the third year actors (my fifth group of them!) do panto, Cinderella to be precise. Pantomime is my perennial favourite bit of theatre. Oh no, it isn't! However, I have long acknowledged that for an actor, the form is both incredibly important, because if you can entertain kids, you can probably do anything, it also provides a large opening for a regular gig each year as they are so abundant. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the intelligent bods teaching these students have come to the decision to create a little panto action of their own. This first of three (and the other two are very different beasts, as you will learn from the next reviews) is the ever so traditional one. Formed partly from the work of Looking Glass Theatre and director James Smith, I first saw much of this piece in January 2015, and although I didn't remember a great deal of it after this time, the cheese song managed to flash back to me, perhaps, sadly. So, ...
Read more