The Street: The Bugalugs Bum Thief

Why on earth are you going to a kids' show? came the cry.  Well, there are three reasons, really. 

First, I like kids' shows.  I like the squealing, unadulterated* glee of small children gripped by colour and movement and grown-ups being a bit naughty and silly. 

Second, I will go to pretty much anything that calls itself theatre.  The only line I'm conscious of ever having drawn was in front of something that called itself "An Evening with Frank Spencer" at the Q a couple of years ago. Dear god, no.

Third, Bottoms Are Always Funny.

But how can you stage someone stealing a bottom? came another cry.  Quite neatly, as it turns out, by giving your cast (of three athletic and pulchritudinous young men) enormous fake bottoms in Scene One.  In subsequent scenes, people turn around and Their Trousers Fall Down, resulting in vast expanses of satin boxer short, an expression of coy horror from the trouserless, and convulsive hilarity from the tinies.  It's not all that far off Ray Cooney, if you think about it.

OK, it was silly, but with lots of songs and movement, terrible jokes and mild, simple-minded naughtiness of the sort that is irrestistably risible to infants and the fans of Hale & Pace, this was a fun little show.  The session I attended was packed out, and Michael Hurst - taking a breather from the virtuosic Frequently Asked Questions next door - had to be found a stackable chair at the very back of the theatre.  While the resolution was pretty rubbish (and surprisingly drawn out), it involved Very Many Bottoms, and was, accordingly, received as hilarious. 

So, for kids: an easy introduction to theatre, and lots of bottoms!  For the adults, the best bit was watching the sheer joy on the faces of the kids - though, as I said earlier - the bottoms were pretty funny too.

(*Pun intended. Although now I am wondering if in fact it is a pun at all).