*(full title – The Fit Prince (who gets switched on the square in the frosty castle the night before (insert public holiday here))

---

Walking into the lovely Hope Mill theatre space after enjoying the lovely Hope Mill theatre bar space, I was met with an open coffin (empty at this stage, I should fiercely stress) and ethereal choir music.

A lot for a Tuesday evening. Or perhaps what is exactly required. Perhaps, I pondered, it might even be not quite extra enough?!

I needn’t have worried.

And so a production such as this demands more than a review, a blog post, a download of my thoughts and feelings on what I’d witnessed during the last hour.

I’m taking inspiration and doing this differently.

---

A love letter to The Fit Prince (et al)…

Dear The Fit Prince (et al)…

The time has come (36 hours after our first meeting), for me to tell you how I feel.

At 7.30pm, on a Tuesday night in April, I had no idea what was about to happen to me. They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression. But, the first impression was all I needed to know that this was no ordinary meeting. This was the start of something weird, something odd, something daft and something very, very funny.

How do I love thee, The Fit Prince (et al)? Let me count, well list the ways with the aid of the bullet point function on WordPress and some inserted images.

• I love the way before the play proper started, you enlist ‘volunteers’ from the audience, providing them with roles and accompanying costumes, with cue cards prepping them for what would be required and when (whilst the rest of us let out huge sighs of relief for being too far away from the stage/wedged in to be approached).
• I love the way plucky non-credited audience members are brought into the action as prompted by stage directions on signs throughout the show, each afforded scenarios that only ever allowed them to shine and receive applause as they bravely ad-libbed their way through their varying minutes of fame
• I love the way you take us on a fairytale where there is (consults press release), ‘Panic! In Swedonia.The King is dead and the prince next in line to the throne is unmarried – if he doesn’t find someone soon he must forfeit the crown! Whilst In New York City, baker Aaron Butcher is butchering his career as a family baker. Maybe a commission in the non-location-specific country of Swedonia will fix his problems…‘. Oh yeah…
• I love the way your starring cast of Linus Karp (The Prince and others) and Joseph Martin (Aaron Butcher and others) keep us laughing throughout with scripted lines, ad-libbed lines, far-out costumes, high-octane performances and, well, some great silly voices and bits (New Yoik)
• I love the way your live action performances on stage are juxtaposed and synced up perfectly with additional characters pre-recorded and shown on screen (shout-out to Michelle Obama – when they go low…)
• I love the way puppetry is brought into the mix, both snarky and frankly terrifying
• I love the way that just when I think I can take no more, you give me the finest ABBA tribute act I have ever and will ever see: BAAB. Of course, in Swedonia there is no ABBA, there is only BAAB. And in Swedonia, there is no Dancing Queen, there is only (Middle-aged) Movement King (only 53).
• On that point, I’ve also just remembered how I love that you have lots of other fine, original, comedy songs in your repertoire.
• I love the way you are a hun-heavy production that has throwbacks to some of our favourite pop culture moments, ‘it wasnae me!’, ‘I didn’t get on the plane…’
• I love your liberal, unapologetic use of profanity and downright dirty words which for reasons of risking my content not being given the exposure on the world wide web I so desperately crave, I shall leave to the imagination
• I love you presenting an image of two fellow audience members on their knees, wearing masks as they depict horses in love (I also hate you a bit for this nightmarish image)
• But most of all, most of all, I love the way you’ll be returning to Hope Mill Theatre every night until Sunday 26 April.

And whilst by saying this, I risk others meeting you and falling for your ability to provide a riot of a show that is top-tier outrageous and bloody mirth-tastic, I know that you know that you’ll remain in my heart forever and until the next show Award Prods brings to my hood (because I’m a right flake, you understand).

Lots of love and stars

Honorary Manc xx

ps The Fit Prince (who gets switched on the square in the frosty castle the night before (insert public holiday here)) – Hope Mill Theatre (cast, crew, ticket and deets).