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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 ...

Flashers, savages and gluttony: You're Human Like the Rest of Them @finborough


It's a bizarre, odd sort of world. Nothing makes sense. Gluttony, communism, flashers in cemeteries. It's all laid bare in You're Human Like The Rest of Them. Three short works by B.S. Johnson playing at the Finborough Theatre. The three pieces include two world stage premieres of pieces originally broadcast on television and radio and the first production in over forty years.

B.S Johnson was a radical and an experimentalist.  He wrote plays, poems and novels. A collection of his films are also available. His pieces are about the big themes of life, death, religion. Nothing is quite like it seems. In 1973 a month after completing a short filmed piece called Fat Man on a Beach (well he probably was a little overweight but that title seemed an exaggeration), he committed suicide.  Since then his work has developed a bit of a cult following. Given the theatricality and originality of his works it is surprising that there has never been a staged performance of them. Until now.


Not Counting the Savages has wife (Sarah Berger) coming home distressed after being at the cemetery and seeing a flasher. But her husband (Brian Deacon) seems more interested in a visit to the Soviet Union. And her son (Bertie Taylor-Smith) is more interested in getting hold of an inheritance to fund a porno he wants to shoot. Given the proximity to Brompton Cemetery it felt as if it could have been a scene in any neighbouring flat.


Down Red Lane is a debate between diner (Reginald Edwards) and his belly (Alex Griffin-Griffiths). It's a standoff between gluttony and the bodies major organs delivered with style and panache.

The final scene, You're Human Like The Rest of Them a teacher (again Taylor-Smith) learns that the spine is pretty useless and that death is inevitable. But despite realising that we're all just decaying he keeps calm and carries on.

It's all a bit bonkers, rude and confronting.  But the series of intense scenes and lively performances hits the mark for laughs.

Directed by Carla Kingham, You're Human Like The Rest of Them runs Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays at the Finborough Theatre until 21 March.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎


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