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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 ...

Axes to grind: Violet @charingcrossthr


A game of poker, a greyhound bus trip and a few stops at whorehouses of America lead to salvation. Or so it appears in Violet, a musical getting its UK premiere at Charing Cross Theatre. An inspired production set in the traverse and a stellar cast are somewhat let down by a superficial story. And sound that made it difficult to hear what people were singing about.

Violet is set in 1964 North Carolina.  It's about a young woman who was disfigured as child when her father was careless with an axe. With her life savings she travels on a bus trip across the country in search of a miracle healer and tele-evangelist in Oklahoma. Along the way she strikes up a friendship with benefits with two young soldiers.

With this setup I was half expecting a Dogfight on the bus. But instead of some kinda time, things are kept bright and sweet with its bluegrass score by Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley. But soon the sweetness becomes relentless. By the time you're half way through you're already in a diabetic shock from the soaring melodies and lyrical platitudes. There's lots of music, but none allow for anything other than a skin deep examination of the characters.


As Violet Kaisa Hammarlund seems full of boundless enthusiasm that makes the piece fun to watch and worth the journey. Jay Marsh as the sensitive soldier Flick also has some great scenes and strong vocals. Rounding out the love triangle Matthew Harvey also makes his presence felt as the beefy soldier who shows Violet a good time.

The production moves the action further into the theatre with its traverse staging and revolve. It looks great with its with wooden panels covered with body parts ripped from magazines. But even if the sight lines are improved, the sound seems muffled. Particularly when the ensemble is on stage, making it hard to follow what's going on.

Directed by Shuntaro Fujita, this is a co-production with Umeda Arts and will transfer to Tokyo after it concludes its run at the Charing Cross Theatre on 6 April.

⭐️⭐️⭐️



Photos by Scott Rylander

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