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

Review of & Juliet at Milton Keynes Theatre

First performed in 2019, & Juliet has become quite a global success, and now, as part of a UK Tour, it has arrived at Milton Keynes Theatre for a two-week run. Featuring a book by David West Read, it tells the what-if story of the survival of Juliet at the end of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet . Primarily a jukebox musical, it more specifically features the works of Swedish songwriter Max Martin (and friends, as the credits describe). The question is, does & Juliet provide more than the standard of many a jukebox musical before it, and does it honour the tragic tale from which it has sprung? Our story opens with William Shakespeare presenting his latest work, Romeo & Juliet , for the first time. However, when his wife, Anne Hathaway, learns how he intends the tale to end, she is away with his quill and planning on her reworking of the story. At the core of this touring production's success is Geraldine Sacdalan's powerhouse performance as Juliet. Her Juliet ...

Review of Northern Ballet - The Great Gatsby at Milton Keynes Theatre

This production of The Great Gatsby performed by Northern Ballet was my fifth encounter at the theatre of a full ballet production and as before, I happily share my review of the show with nearly zero knowledge of-the-art form and more of a casual theatre-goer. You could say that this is a poor direction to come in on a review, but I would say that casual audience are the ones to review this for. Over the years, Northern Ballet has set quite a high benchmark for ballet productions, and any audience member who is worth their salt as a ballet fan would no doubt have tickets for this new touring version of the 2013 version of The Great Gatsby , lovingly created by David Nixon OBE. So much is Nixon part of the very fabric of this show, that he not only provides the choreography and direction but also the initial scenario and costume design (assisted by Julie Anderson). So, discounting those ballet fans already sitting in the audience, what does this offer for the more casual theatre-goer ...

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...

A Small Mind At The Theatre

Search This Blog