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Still here: While They Were Waiting - Upstairs At The Gatehouse

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As the song goes, time heals everything. Or as another song says, it's time after time. Yet waiting—for a moment, a minute, or even a while—can feel like a chore. In Gary Wilmot’s slightly absurd and silly While They Were Waiting, the focus is on waiting and wordplay. No opportunity is missed to find more than one meaning in what is said. A debate arises about the difference between a smidge and a whisker. There's a playful riff on how you can be here and over there at the same time, depending on your standpoint. If this piece has a point at all, it depends on what you find funny. The concept of waiting-related language is, in itself, amusing, and there is plenty to laugh about in this show. It’s currently playing at Upstairs at the Gatehouse . The premise is simple: Mulbery (Steve Furst) arrives for an appointment and is kept waiting. What the appointment is for, we are not clear about but he is waiting for a yellow door to open. Nobody answers when he rings. He’s joined by th...

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. 

Production photo

If the show settled on a convincing plot, location and set of characters, it could make a lot more sense. The musical numbers seem to be more about exposition and scene setting than anything else, and to borrow from another quirky musical, Urinetown, when Officer Lockstock tells Sally in the opening number, "You're too young to understand it now, but nothing can kill a show like too much exposition." 

Despite the show's shortcomings, the idea of a gentle plant yearning for a life beyond its pot is an amusing one. Co-writer, director, composer, and Potty Plant performer Baden Burns infuses the character with a sense of timing and sincerity that the rest of the show could benefit from. All Potty needs is a proper adventure. 

Directed by Baden Burns and with musical direction by Zach Burns, Potty The Plant concludes at Wilton's Music Hall on 28 June. It heads off to the Edinburgh Fringe again this summer. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️

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