Trump The Musical
Alphabetti Theatre
26th February 2019
The first thing I saw when I arrived in the venue was a Make America great again AGAIN hat. I had to look twice at the hat to realise this was also satire, just when I thought I might have made a mistake and come to a trump rally by accident. The guys wasted no time in getting the show on the road with a sickeningly America pride song, about as over the top as America fuck yeah from the team America soundtrack.
The 4 performers and musician (and occasional performer) were all well polished, with a straight out of drama school like feel to their performance. Trump, Kim Jong Ill and Putin are all played by women to quite a high and recognisable level. It’s hard to do a satire of Trump without approaching stereotypes and boy were there stereotypes, Trump comes off lightly compared to ‘King’ Nigel Farage who is just about the antipathy of Brexit racism. Putin’s Russian accent and the general American accents are pretty much superb, Kim Jong Ill needs a bit of work however and was less North Korean more Scandinavian, but was a great caricature all the same. Pretty much all the characters are caricatures. If you are looking for subtlety and well rounded, fair and balanced characters you have come to the wrong place. However if you want cutting satire, this is it!
At one point Trump simulates taking a dump and there is rather uncomfortable bondage scene and attire. This production is simply a laughfest from start to finish. The songs are well thought out, the narrative is obviously always changing, as are some of the jokes, of which there are many are based on recent news stories. It must be hard writing a show you will tour knowing by the time you have finished it, it will already be largely out of date. They get around this brilliantly by setting it a year in the future (2020), in which king Nigel Farage rules over England (he’s lost the other three countries in the UK. The plot is farce, but what wee you expecting?
Sometimes even the truth is harder to believe, so in a way it’s the gift that keeps on giving. I recommend you check it out yourself if you are lucky enough to snap up a ticket for this run. I believe they are also playing Edinburgh this year along with their Boris Johnson musical, who makes a brief appearance in this play.
Be reassured even if you don’t like musicals you will thoroughly enjoy this must-see production.
Frank Cromartie Murphy
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