Cassandra Compton & Ben Gerrard. Photo credit: Claire Bilyard
This is a ‘sung play,’ (keen to specify that it is not a musical), where the characters communicate in song all the time – kind of like an opera with less pretention. It works!
Spinach is a great little show – incorporating memory lapses, drugs gangsters, strangers meeting in the street and… Halloumi kebabs. Why not? The two leads, Cassandra Compton and Ben Gerrard are great. Compton’s voice is breathtaking (she was an X Factor finalist in the first series in 2004), and the two of them have great chemistry, enabling them to carry off the tricky task of 80 minutes of unbroken song with apparent ease. In fact the two of them are so good, it’s a bit of a shame when the narrative of them just getting to know each other is interrupted by their captor appearing on the scene (did I not mention? They wake up tied back to back at the beginning with no idea what’s happened…).
The King’s Head’s back room theatre is exactly the right place for this small production – it’s always a wonderful spot for intimacy. It’s a refreshingly original (if slightly bizarre – no bad thing in my book), fun and upbeat show, probably closest to Betwixt if we’re going for comparisons. Well worth a watch if you fancy something a bit different, informal and entertaining in Islington. Enjoy!
One in a long line of good girls.... 