Joseph finds his funny bone…

Outside my bedroom window is a street light. A street light that also serves as an advertising space for what’s on at the Theatre Royal. So, after three gusty winter months of listening to various signs rattling away advertising numerous shows I noticed that no longer was it ‘Swan Lake’ or ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’ but ‘Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’. Prompted by the sign, my ‘things to do in Brighton before graduating list’ and the shameful admission that after living here for four years I’d never been to the theatre, I went to buy myself a ticket.

Having not been to the theatre for a while, more than ten years in fact, I didn’t really know what to expect. Turning up half an hour before the curtain was due to go up and, upon walking through the heavy wooden doors which provide a barrier between the modern Bond Street and early 19th century theatre, I was confronted with a large proportion of Brighton’s elderly and not one but two parties of primary school children.

Looking around I appeared to be somewhat of an odd ball. I was neither old nor a primary school child. After a delay in the theatre opening, the mood changed inside the auditorium from one of frantic teachers and fidgeting, chattering school children to one of calm with a hint of anticipation, although the sight of an elderly woman wearing ear plugs was surely not a good sign of things to come.

Just as the heavy red velvet curtain was about to go up we were treated to an announcement – the star of the show – Craig Chalmers, was absent. A groan of disappointment echoed around the room. I have to say that I was disappointed too – a part of the attraction of coming was, after following the BBC1 Saturday evening talent show to cast Joseph, I wanted to see Joseph, not a last minute replacement I hadn’t heard of. Any concerns, however, where soon put to one side as the show started.

While never having seen a production of ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’ before I knew the story line and so had some idea of what to expect. What I was interested in was how it’d been interpreted: could the producers give a new slant on such an iconic show?

The answer to this lay in the addition of humour. Be it the inflatable sheep or the ‘motorbike’ golden chariot at the end of the show, there was a great deal of tongue-in-cheek humour throughout.

Also, the excellent choreography, stage make-up and the fantastic abilities of the cast themselves made for an incredibly enjoyable show.

During the interval, one of the many elderly members of the audience felt compelled to tell me all about a production of ‘Joseph’ she came to see about fourteen years ago at this very theatre, and commented on how this version had been somewhat modernised. I feared she might be about to complain but no, quite the contrary, she was impressed with the comic take on the show and even admitted to finding our unexpected Joseph quite handsome!

‘Be it the inflatable sheep or the golden motorbike chariot at the end of the show, there was a great deal of tongue in cheek humour’

After the interval the high standard of acting continued as we saw Joseph interpret more dreams, take pity on the brothers who’d turned their back on him before framing the unfortunate Benjamin for stealing his golden cup.

The finale came with a terrific performance by Joseph followed by a medley of the best known songs. The energy of the cast was phenomenal and couldn’t fail in motivating the crowd to join in. The length and volume of the applause at the end confirmed my verdict that the show was a success.

I recommend anyone to sacrifice a couple of nights out in order to be able to afford the theatre ticket. Admittedly it’s not cheap but it’s also one of those things you should not be leaving Brighton without experiencing. Just one word of advice – drag a friend along.