Evil Surfer

The prisoners were personally obliged to see to repairs, although they were not provided with either needles or thread. The repeated disinfections weakened the fibres of the cloth, removing all resistance to wear and tear. All this material represented the shoddiest part of the linen seized from the members of the various transports which, as is common knowledge, flooded ceaselessly into the station at Auschwitz from every part of Europe. Sometimes instead one would be given the jacket or trousers from a pair of pyjamas, or even some article of female underwear. Its responsible recklessness of spirit is done handsome justice by Indhu Rubasingham’s breezily entertaining production.

Her Latin American husband absconds, having embezzled all of her hard-won wealth through identity theft She discovers, to her horror, that she’s pregnant. And her freefall to the underclass is all the more swift and precipitous because she happens to be first-generation- educated African-American.
The play is very funny in a manner that sails exhilaratingly close to political incorrectness. But these impersonal numbers have neither raw passion nor easy confidence; the performers squall and the bass thumps relentlessly, as monotonous as Michelle Collins’ attempts to act. One can’t feel affection for anyone here, for the music isn’t out to charm us or gain our sympathy, merely impress us with a series of song-and-dance numbers in which the girls splay, split and kick their legs like Swiss Army knives with all the blades going at once and the men clutch their privates.. With her own Manhattan PR firm, it would be an understatement to say that Undine, the eponymous protagonist of Lynn Nottage’s Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine, is in Absolutely Fabulous territory. Mamma mia, whatever possessed the producers of Daddy Cool – or have I answered my own question?

The latest attempt to cash in on a back catalogue, this musical uses the songs of Boney M as plot points or characterisations.

If there’s no celebrity to hand to endorse a product, she simply creates one

But then, things start to go wrong, big time. She’s so svelte and successful that she can even hector her clients with lines such as, “I’m at the outer limits of my time, you’ll have to talk more quickly”. All that kept me going was a galvanising hatred of Billy Crudup’s oafish slacker, his goatee beard, his unamusing repartee and his smug self-regard all locked in a contest to be the most annoying thing about him. The comedy finale at Julianne Moore’s opening night almost vanquishes Richard Curtis for shameless emotional grandstanding..