Spandex Blues, Smock Alley

The company's name, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, did bring a smile to my face, the first of the night, but unfortunately it wasn't one of many. The idea itself is bright and intriguing from the mind of Diane Crotty: the ups and downs of a super-villian, E, whose other siblings just happen to be super-heroes. If that's not a recipe for a downer on a large scale then what is? In Spandex Blues it is simply a different take on the 'not fitting in' variety, and like others, it does so with a lot of seriousness, masking itself behind something bright, but only thinly so, as the brightness takes a backseat to much introspection.

The opening, delivered by the underused Henchy (Luke Casserly), E's 'minion', gives us the 'dos and do nots' of theatre etiquette in a slightly different way. E's entrance to suitably grand piano cords and reddish lighting is apt for what we are about to get, 'the realistic consequences that super heroes and super villains would be faced with'. There is a touch of Kick-Ass to the idea, but here it is more reality, with a lot of local location checks (including Club M) and with a large dose of social commentary. Not that there isn't room for social commentary, or that there shouldn't be any, there should, in fact Kick Ass makes its point as well. Here, though, it is at the forefront more than the spandex. 

Diane Crotty, who also wrote the piece, shows herself at ease with the material, and is joined very rarely onstage by Henchy, who sits in the audience for most of the hour or so. To be fair, they did get the audience humming the Mission Impossible theme at one point, so perhaps more interactive ideas would be good; E 's first intro is through a more stand up approach. There are moments when we are drawn in well, but it is such an angst ridden piece that any humour seems to miss it's mark. The lighting transitions are good, and help to enlarge or contract the playing space well, with effective background music. At times though it feels that the story might be better read than acted.

In all, it promised a very good, different idea, that needed to be larger than life, but this was more life than life itself. Spandex Blues has some good moments and potential, but for now, it is less Spandex and more blues, in what turns out to be a very ordinary piece about not fitting in and the consequences of great power and responsibility.

Runs until January 30th 2016