James McAvoy was the big draw and the reason I booked in to see The Ruling Class at Trafalgar Studios. I'd been looking forward to this one for ages and am happy to report it lived up to heightened expectations. He is magnetic and oh so memorable, playing a mad upper class heir who becomes more acceptable to his House of Lords peers once his ditches his 'God is love' mantra for 'God the avenger'. Surprisingly brilliant, given the (potentially dated) topic. Definitely the best thing I've seen at the theatre this year.
Maybe because it was Thursday night, or becuase it was my third night out on the trot, but I'm embarrassed to admit that I fell asleep in Shakespeare in Love, a theatrical spin off from the romcom film of the same name. I was fighting the heavy, heavy eyelids which kept lowering themselves despite my efforts to stop them in the first act. But things picked up after the interval and I did enjoy the humorous take on Shakespeare, his writer's block and his doomed love for a girl who dresses like a boy to be a player. For my money, the film does it better.
I'm not sure who enjoyed Shaun the Sheep more, the kids or me. As you'd expect from the makers of Wallace & Gromit and The Chicken Run, there's plenty of adult humour (not, ahem, 'adult' humour). Things like the iPhone not working when the haircut pics go viral, the Blue Peter badge on the satchel, or ... There are loads of clever references which are so quick and subtle that I'm not sure 4 year olds get them but they were laughing uproariously at the 'baddie' animal catcher getting dragged along behind the caravan until the bottom of his trousers wore down to reveal his red pants.
Now we've got the Shaun in the City trail to look forward to...
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