Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Helen Carter, Paul Duckworth, Paige Fenlon, Jonathan Markwood, Alan Stocks, Keddy Sutton, Les Dennis, Tom Connor.
The internet made having a flutter on the internet something of a secret, the ability to stay at home whilst playing a game of bingo offered a sense of obscurity and privacy, a seclusion from reality. Rather than being a social experience, gaming, having fun, became a solitary pursuit, unedifying, a sense of the in complete; and one exacerbated by recent effects and situations to which many have yet to grasp the full implications.
In many ways what has happened to bingo and activities where in front of friends you can gamble responsibly, and indeed have a good time, is a symptom of society at large, even before the global pandemic of 2020 we have been collectively losing our sense of self, no longer willing to see people as individuals, we jump on their every words, scrutinising their perhaps meaning via social media, their playfulness and jokes as a damnation of their truth, and worse, the calls for help as a nuisance.
If we allow the Bingo Star to fade into the same path as certain folks’ behaviour has shown in theatres, in public, at sporting events, and in person in shops and other bonding moments between humanity, then the last vestiges of social interaction would have disappeared without a trace; and staying at home, having fun, will be all by design, not random moments of truth.
The Bingo Star is on its knees, a fading community that is being threatened by redevelopment, by corporations and greed, the past and its glory days are but sticking plasters as the future threatens to tear apart the lives of those who have seen it more than a pastime, who have embraced it a resource for the community.
Written by Ian Christie and directed by the insightful Emma Bird, Bingo Star is more than just a comedy in which Liverpool’s Royal Court excels, it is an indictment and powerful observation of how we have declared war on social coming togethers in the name of compliance to a future that is harming us, that is hellbent on removing the final shreds of communal spirit and forcing us to abide by restrictions in the name of progress.
It is in that the play, objective, passionate, a selection of songs that make the hairs on the back of the neck dance with rigour and fierce joy, that the audience understands that we must make more of an effort to avoid the suits and ideas of corporations as they tear the fabric of our lives down, whilst selling us, not a dream, but a nightmare fuelled by hunger.
Bingo Star brings together some of Liverpool’s finest comedic talent, the superb Keddy Sutton, Helen Carter, Paul Duckworth, Jonathan Markwood, Alan Stocks, and the groove that is endearingly bright in Paige Fenlon, in a production that deserves its place in the pantheon of musical comedies staged at the Royal Court.
Eyes down, the numbers up for corporate and government greed as the bingo caller strikes back.
Ian D. Hall