(see at the afternoon performance on 22nd June 2025)
“Be prepared, that’s the boy scouts’ marching song” sang Tom Lehrer, before going on to speak of things that went on at a rather bolder scout jamboree than that one David Fallon and Sam Cochrane create here, with the blessing of the UK Scout organisation.
This is aimed firmly at the family audience, and delighted the coachloads of young scouts at the performance the monkey attended. The last performance of this show, they rose to the occasion.
It’s a fairly simple story. Each year scouts gather for the “Scout Games.” The big prize is a “Gold Badge” (gold sprinkles thrown, mind your new black jeans if in the front row). In 1999, Charlotte (Emily Kitchingham) felt robbed of it... this year, she returns in cunning disguise to take her revenge.
Fortunately, two resourceful misfit scouts Eliza and Joe (Eleanor Fransch and Burhan Kathawala), with Joe’s hero Linus Lionheart (Rob Gathercole) save the day.
Throw in Scout Leader Dylan (Kemi Clarke) as a contest obsessive MC, add Rosie (Katie Pritchard) as a good scout with a secret, introduce a narrator (Heather Gourdie) at odd times to keep the story going, and there are plenty of strong characters to rub together creating theatrical fire.
For the most part, it is a merry blaze. Members of the audience are selected (young Alice, musical obsessive, potential future cast member) to compete in the early rounds of the contest. The actors wrangle them perfectly (unlike “Earnest?” and its clumsy insults in the attempt to get a cheap laugh) and allow them to shine.
The contest unfolds in the first half, some strong actor / musician work delivers rather good numbers, “Home” and “I Have Skills” – complete with Gigglemug trade mark humour. Gathercole and Fransch in particular distinguish themselves on the vocals, Pritchard (as in “Jaffa Cake The Musical”) with timing and stage presence.
It is a little odd, therefore, that the second half begins feeling disconnected and baggier. We go off on two tangents at the start of it, with little explanation. The on-stage banners are suddenly green and warning bad things will happen.
Evil Grannies crossing the street are to be avoided, a banned “hypnotism” badge skill put to uses as dark as the psychedelic swirling glasses worn by the victims.
A happier Linus Lionheart in David Attenborough parody mode is a beautifully conceived scene, Fransch’s glove puppet amusing and the disruption of fishing by a young audience member returning from a toilet run just adding to the absurdity.
Fortunately, it pulls together, with “Skills For Life” a hymn to all that scouting can offer in friendship, values and plain fun.
This is vital. It was interesting for the monkey to note that while behaviour among the youngsters watching was good in itself, many children were oddly subdued in their natural reactions.
By that, it means that they appeared not to be readily and instinctively able to react to the live situation, or form a communal feel of an audience. Laughs came, but they were drawn from the seats by the skills of the performers, rather than meeting in the middle. Other reactions were muted to non-existent.
It left the monkey wondering just how deep the impact of the “lockdown years” has been on the socialisation of an entire cohort.
The importance of scouting to bring this generation out again can’t be understated, and this show is as good as any place to demonstrate just how it can be done – though maybe not at first with a diving falcon...
3 stars.