I'D heard of Chumbawamba but couldn't for the life of me remember anything they'd ever released, except for the one they did in 1997 about being knocked down and getting up again. It's actually called Tubthumping but no one remembers that either.
So I knew not what to expect when I agreed to see their collaboration with the Red Ladder theatre company, a pantomime called Riot, Rebellion and Bloody Insurrection: A Musical Comedy at Balne Lane Working Men's Club, Wakefield.
Entrance was a fiver
and that included your first pint – a veritable bargain by anyone's standards.
And what a riot it was. Written by Dom Grace and Chumbawamba's Boff Whalley, it is very much a political play about Ernest Hardgristle, (Dean Nolan) a 19th-century mill owner, and his problems with the Luddites, who attack his looms with hammers in a bid to save their livelihoods. But it's also very, very funny.
Filled with smutty innuendo, local 'in' jokes and plenty of wonderful songs courtesy of Chumbawamba (who also double up as cast members and take part in the action) this is a real gem of a show.
There's also a couple of lines from The Fall's Mr Pharmacist, snuck in no doubt by Dom Grace, a self-confessed Mark E Smith fan, as well as a passing reference to Mastermind.
Jo Mousley as Elsie Proud, a feisty kitchen maid by day and a revolutionary by night, is terrific.
But it is Nolan, as larger than life Hardgristle, who steals the show.
His comic timing is impeccable and his metamorphosis into a 'lady of the night' had the audience in stitches.
He's also a great mover and shaker and is incredibly light on his feet.
Hardgristle has a rival in Robert 'two-coaches' Catchpenny (Harry Hamer) a former seaman turned MP with a love of croquet!
The two men clash and Elsie ultimately becomes the architect of their downfall. It is touring throughout the north until January 9.
More details www.redladder.co.uk
