We Will Rock You

We Will Rock You
By Ben Elton. Music and Lyrics by Queens. Direction and Concepts by John Boyce, Row Blacksaw, Aaron Griffiths and Will Toft. Brisbane Arts Theatre. June 2 – July 28, 2018

Let’s face it. The whole idea was to perform the music of Queen other than in concert form and Ben Elton has concocted a convoluted story for that purpose. It works wonderfully well. The play is set in the future where individuality no longer exists – everyone wears the same style of clothes, and there’s no music or original thinking. A group of Bohemians is searching for the freedoms of the past. They meet in an old Hard Rock Cafe, try to understand what has gone before and name themselves after long lost stars such as Buddy (Holly) and Brit (Spears). We follow the search for reality through the thoughts and dreams of the misfit Galileo and a girl misfit whom he names Scaramouche.

We follow their journey mainly through the music of Queen – and it was a pleasant journey down memory lane. The large cast moved freely and smoothly while dancing and singing very well. Congratulations to the choreographer, costume designers and other technical crew members. There were some faults in Act1 with music volume but that was minor.

The strength of this We Will Rock You depended on the singing standard, particularly of the leads, and it was uniformly very good. Will Toft (Galileo) and Ebony Hamacek (Scaramouche) combined well in both acting and singing. Natalie Mead made a striking Killer Queen. The over-the-top performance by Liam McDonell brought the house down – before his character was brought down. Mark Tuohy as the bikie-look Buddy brought a needed stable core to the frenetic action. Well done to the entire cast.

I have to admit that my knowledge of the music by Queen has been increased enormously. From the reaction of the audience with clapping, foot stamping and singing along, it was obvious that they knew the music well. Ah “Bohemian Rhapsody”. This was a great end to the night. Well done Arts Theatre, Director, cast and crew.

William Davies

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