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Somewhere that's green: Potty the Plant at Wiltons Music Hall

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"I'm Potty the Plant," sings a potted plant in this odd little fringe concept of a show. It's hard not to get the tune out of your head, even if the show is brief. It's an earworm for a show that features a worm-like plant as a puppet. And given the show's brevity, running at only an hour, it's hard to get too annoyed by a lack of a coherent story, even if it still seems like the show could use a bit more development (which is underway). It has made its London debut at Wilton's Music Hall. The premise is that Potty, the plant, lives in the hospital office of Dr Acula (geddit?) and dreams of a life with the cleaning lady Miss Lacey (Lucy Appleton). But Dr Acula might be responsible for why all these children are disappearing while trying to romance Miss Lacey for her family's money that she doesn't have. Three nurses are on the case, trying to solve the mystery.  If the show settled on a convincing plot, location and set of characters, it could ...

Bump in the night: Botallack O'Clock @ORLTheatre


Botallack O'Clock brings to life the creative struggles of Roger Hilton in a funny and dreamy production. Insomnia has never seemed so inspiring and lonely as the dead of night comes to life.

Towards the end of Hilton's life he turned to producing works using poster paint on paper. He worked mostly throughout the night on these works, along with writing letters to his wife and various other musings. This piece brings together these items to explore his struggles and his demons.






The title of the show comes from a poem by W.S. Graham, "Lines on Roger Hilton's Watch" and refers to the dead of night.

We are introduced to Roger lying on his bed. There is a bottle of whisky nearby and pots of paint, discarded paper and other rubbish is strewn about the floor. Magically the radio suddenly comes to life and is offering Roger the chance to be on Desert Island Discs.

As Roger, Dan Frost cuts a lanky and awkward man fumbling around in the darkness moving from painting to musings about pickles. It is an intriguing performance as he moves about the space that is his tiny room. One moment he is talking about music and the next he is talking about his experiences as a young man in France. And George Haynes as the man on the radio proves an equally entertaining foil.

Written and directed by Eddie Elks, you feel as if you get a real sense of Roger and his struggles as art, women and past experiences collide. Adding to the atmosphere is the evocative lighting by Christopher Nairne and set design by Ken McClymont.

Botallack O'Clock runs at the Old Red Lion Theatre through to 6 February.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

Photo credit: Production images by Zanna Wharfe





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