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Bit parts: Garry Starr Performs Everything @swkplay

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Garry Starr Performs Everything is a bare-bones (and bare buttocks) tribute to the theatre. Theatre may be in trouble, and audiences are down, but Garry Starr aims to save the theatre and bring back to the masses every style of theatre possible. As long as each style involves wearing a transparent white leotard or a skimpy thong. And tassels. It's part comedy, part physical comedy and part perv at Gary's physical prowess. The sentiment "if you've got it, flaunt it" applies here. So here we are with a show that has been around for some years and is having its first proper London run at the Southwark Playhouse (Borough) through Christmas. The premise is that Garry Starr (played by Damien Warren-Smith) has left the Royal Shakespeare Company over artistic differences. He is now on a mission to save the theatre from misrepresentation and worthy interpretations by doing things such as a two-minute Hamlet, recreating scenes from a Pinter play using unsuspecting audience

Dancing in the streets: The Theatre Channel


The Theatre Cafe continues its online series of showcasing performers with well-known songs from Broadway and the West End and available through  Stream.Theatre. The site has become a source for West End-flavoured entertainment over the past year, and its a musical revue and showcase for some of the West End's best-known performers.

Shot at the Theatre Cafe and locations around the West End The Charing Cross Theatre, the production uses the empty spaces that would typically be where tourists, workers and Londoners would be. The episodes are a celebration and reminder of what we've been missing with the closure of theatres. 

The performers include Kerry Ellis singing Always Starting Over from If/Then, Layton Williams singing Hold Me In Your Heart from Kinky Boots. And Katie Deacon performing Music And The Mirror from A Chorus Line across the empty streets of London, serving as a reminder about the pandemic's toll on both the city and the industry. 

There's an additional commentary for A Chorus Line as a tribute to choreographer, director and producer Bob Avian, who passed away in January. John Breglio, Baayork Lee, and Antonio Banderas talk about the background of the show and the 2019 Spanish Production. There are hopes to take this production to Broadway in the not too distant future. 

Directed by Thom Southerland with musical supervision by Michael England and choreography by Ashley Nottingham, The Theatre Channel's latest episode is available to stream now. Previous episodes are also available to download and enjoy at your leisure. 

Photo by Edward Johnson

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