Grab your beach towels and slap on some factor 50 as check in is now open at the King’s Theatre for Benidorm Live.
Its particular brand of saucy seaside humour from the ITV television sitcom Benidorm has successfully switched to stage success with an extended remix of the long running series.
Despite being axed nearly 10 years ago after its final tenth series, it still continues to have a cult following with the sold out shows pleasing audiences across the UK and Ireland. Characterising every Brits Abroad stereotype under the sun, the hapless hotel Solana opens for another season providing much needed light hearted holiday humour in an era of Brexit. The show is a two hour romp through Benidorm in its heyday with laughs, innuendos and gags a plenty.
If you haven’t managed to catch the original series, think Fawlty Towers-esque humour but with a sun tan! The show starts with a very middle class gentleman and his particularly snobby wife, distinctly unimpressed that they have landed in the Solana Hotel as a result of the sister hotel they had chosen being over booked.
The staff do their best to try and impress after catching wind about an undercover hotel inspector spying on the hotel in the midst of a takeover bid. However in classic Benidorm style, there are various mishaps, misunderstandings and hilarious capers as the staff desperately try to work out the identity of the undercover spy and do their best to save the Solana and their Benidorm family.
The story features some of the favourites from the original series – Tony Maudsley (Kenneth), Sherrie Hewson (Joyce Temple-Savage), Shelley Longworth (Sam), Jake Canuso (Mateo), Adam Gillen (Liam) and Janine Duvitski (Jacqueline), who all reprise their roles much to the delight of the audience who whooped and cheered as each character took to the stage for the first time.
The inclusion of these familiar characters bring warmth and familiarity to the show as the audience lap up the opportunity to see their favourite stars up close and personal.
The larger than life characters play broadly to type yet have even more opportunity to shine on stage and develop their characters further with plenty of comedy moments loaded with far more not so subtle blue humour and double entendres than would have been allowed before the watershed.
Television veteran Hewson gives a stellar performance as the glorious Miss Temple-Savage, desperately trying to hold on to the Solana hotel and deliver an almost four star experience. Canuso is extra sleazy and extra Spanish on stage as the stereotypical lothario and seems to enjoy playing up to this image and winning over the females in the audience.
The most laugh out loud moments come from Maudsley as the outrageously camp and ultimate queen Kenneth, head stylist from Blow and Glo, complete with tiny hot pants and cheeky slogan t-shirts. He of course performs alongside his comedy sidekick Gillen as the idiotic yet helplessly innocent Liam and the duo work perfectly on stage together.
Duvitski reprises famous swinger Jacqueline – a firm fan favourite – who cackles and screeches her way through the show alongside new character Gay Derek (Damian Williams) as they both deliver outrageous comedy moments and attempt to turn even the most innocent of moments into innuendos.
The cast are clearly relishing the opportunity to bring their most loved characters to play on stage and the joy they are having on stage is part of the magic of the show.
The show is cleverly staged with the set moving effortlessly between the most iconic locations of the pool, reception, blow n go and of course Neptune Bar with a little choreography and slick moves from the cast. The introduction of some music, mainly delivered by Asa Elliott, keeps the plot moving and the audience thoroughly entertained.
The second half of the show is mainly staged in Neptune’s Bar and peppers the story with some entertainment in the form of a cabaret show and extended karaoke session – a Benidorm classic. Longworth shows off a lovely vocal performance with a ballad however some of the other vocal performances leave a lot to be desired… despite being hilariously entertaining.
The show closes with a high energy rendition of Viva Espana which has the audience dancing in the aisles and cheering along, thoroughly delighted with their Benidorm experience.
Veteran fan of the show or a newbie to Benidorm, it doesn’t matter – Benidorm will leave you laughing out loud with some welcome light relief on a frosty February evening.
Benidorm Live runs at the King’s Theatre until 9th February