Focus Birmingham

by Vidar Hjardeng

Direct from a highly successful West End season, Little Shop of Horrors was open for business at the Birmingham Hippodrome a couple of weeks go. This wickedly funny musical featuring an incredible man-eating plant, was written by Alan Menkin and Howard Ashman, and this new stage production is enhanced by great songs with laugh-out-loud lyrics.

Down and out Skid Row florist’s assistant, Seymour, becomes an overnight sensation when he discovers an exotic plant with a mysterious craving for fresh blood. It doesn’t take long for the plant to grow into an ill-tempered, foulmouthed R and B singing carnivore offering Seymour fame and fortune in exchange for feeding its growing appetite.

Resident Hippodrome describer, Jonathan Nash, welcomed visually impaired patrons and their companions onto the pre-show touch tour, taking us to one of the show’s principal locations, Mr Mushnik’s flower shop in a very impoverished and seedy part of New York. We also visited Orin Scrivello’s dental surgery for hands on exploration of some of his gruesome surgical instruments - after which we were all mightily relieved not to be one of his patients! We were even able to touch the carnivorous plant itself – Audrey II – which when fully grown resembled a Venus Fly Trap and was very much the star of the show, voiced by Clive Rowe.

Back in the foyer, Philippa, one of the ever helpful front of house team, handed out our all-important headsets along with large print and/or Braille cast lists, and we then took our seats for Jonathan’s pre-show notes 15 minutes before curtain-up. It was nice to meet a couple of first timers for a Hippodrome audio described matinee and I was once again struck by how attentive Jonathan and the theatre staff were in making sure that they got the most out of their first touch tour and also the dynamics of their headsets. Not knowing anything about the play (or indeed the eponymous film), I found Jonathan’s ‘live’ pre-show introduction to the characters and their costumes, invaluable. Having taken advantage of the touch tour and having actually been on stage, his reminder of the set and some of the props meant so much more. Although a somewhat gruesome tale, it was nevertheless good fun and Jonathan’s professionally timed commentary, guaranteed that I, and fellow VIPs, appreciated the humour at precisely the same time, as our sighted audience counterparts.

The Birmingham Hippodrome’s next audio-described production will be another musical, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s perennial favourite, Evita - on the evening of Wednesday 14 October, and information on tickets, how to book headsets and places on the 6 pm touch tour, can be obtained from the box office on 0870 7301234.