Bubbles, the tale of a scrap yard wife, is billed as a musical comedy. I would call it simply a play with music, the tunes being provided by a trio of dedicated performers who have the ability to breathe life into the banal and the commonplace which lie heavily on the evening.
In a series of flashbacks and flash forwards, we follow the adventures of the Brough family as they go in and out of prison for dodgy deals, become drug dealers or are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
They read Titbits magazine and seem to survive on a diet of fry-ups - why they didn’t all die from a cholesterol-related illness is one of theatre’s mysteries.
Melody Brown as Barbara “Bubbles” Brough marries Reg, a London scrap yard owner, and despairs of the future for her two sons, as well she might. Brown sings comfortably and can knock out a good tune from her guitar. Dan Smith, who plays Charley Brough, is a competent musician who tinkles out a neat tune on his piano and stands, in this instance, for decency.
Ryan Coath (who also doubles as Reg) is Dirk Brough - a jack the lad, wide boy type with one eye on the next piece of skirt and the other on the profits from his cocaine deals. Coath moves swiftly and easily through the role, singing and playing well and frequently lending gravitas to the trite and forgettable. He is an actor worth looking out for in the future.
The second part of what seems like an interminable evening, is marginally the liveliest, culminating in a final musical number.
Libby Watson’s ungainly set using mainly rusting corrugated iron and tat (how one longed for the sight of a sequin) catches the mood of the piece to perfection.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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