Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Helen Carter, Michael Fletcher, Lindzi Germain, Hayley Hampson, Michael Ledwich, John McGrellis, Michael Starke, Ross Higginson, Jack Humers, Emily Linden, Alex Smith.

The Antarctic: A place where a person from Liverpool can be at one with Penguins, Polar Bears, a sarcastic snowman with a not just a carrot on his nose but a chip on a shoulder and a cob on his mind and where a man’s underpants can signify that you are truly the master of all you survey. Life it seems can be serene and peaceful as the Scouse of The Antarctic.

Life is never undisturbed l for long, and when the U.S. and Russian Navies collide, when the Polar Bears start bickering over marital relations and wanting to move to a warmer climate and the final horror, a law quoting activist University student from Liverpool fighting the good fight in the land of the dark and cold, then like an Igloo in the midst of Global Warming, the hero soon finds there is no privacy.

The production Fred Lawless’ fifth winter contribution to the Royal Court Theatre and it has to be suggested that it is his finest yet. The jokes are spot on, the music is superb and the songs more apt than finding out that penguins don’t require wrapping to make them look appealing.

For Michael Starke, this is also his third production at Christmas at The Royal Court and as always he gets very much into the swing of the performance and gives the audience the greatest of nights that they truly deserve. Alongside a very cool John McGrellis, the consummate Lindzi Germain, a wonderful festive debut by the tremendous Michael Fletcher and the energetic and dynamic Hayley Hampson, the cast were on fine form. It is though to Helen Carter and Michael Ledwich that the large portion of the applause should go to.

There has been no finer comedy moment all year on stage than the one played out between Helen Carter and Michael Ledwich. To witness two Polar Bears performing The Balero, or if you prefer The Bear-lero, as perfectly and with as much entertainment as Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean did in the 1984 Winter Olympics is to see surreal comedy at its purest and finest. Both actors should be congratulated for pulling it off and having an audience in absolute fits of loving laughter throughout.

Scouse of The Antarctic is The Royal Court Theatre at its very best, a home for Liverpool actors, written by a man who understands humour like pouring water out of a bowl and to perform to Merseyside audiences who just instinctively appreciate what is laid out before them and who are aware of the value of a good night out.

Scouse of The Antarctic is a production to revel in, don’t be frozen out of the crowd; If you’re only bear-ing it up, then Scouse of The Antarctic will have you feeling on top of the world.    

Ian D. Hall