Shout! - Palace Theatre - 31/03/08 by Rachel Hamer

Being a child of the Eighties, my knowledge of the Sixties only goes as far as Beehives and Mini Skirts. However this musical takes you swinging through each and every year and shows you that the Sixties really were something to Shout! about.

Set in a hairdressing salon in Peckham, London, the story follows five woman and one man through the groovy times on the Sixties. It takes us on their journey's of sexual awareness, career choices and the fun times to be had in that decade.

Claire Sweeney takes the lead role of Ruby, the flirtatious one. Shona White the role of Betty the naive one and Donna Steele plays Georgina the ambitious one. They all meet up on their way to London and stay with Ruby's auntie Yvonne played by the magical Su Pollard.

Although the majority of the show is based on songs, the plot is told by the character aptly named The Man through teen magazine Shout! Howard Jones is the lucky guy with this role and is very funny as he plays several different characters along the way and mocks the advertisements of the era.

Of course being set in the sixties it wouldn't be the same if we didn't hear the infamous songs such as "Downtown", "Shout", "I Only Wanna Be With You" and "These Boots Are Made for Walking", to name a few. All of which are timed to fit in with what is happening within the plot.

Claire Sweeney gave an amazing rendition of "Alfie" but however for me the show was stolen by Su Pollard as she sang "You're My World", who knew the lady who once played Peggy in Hi-De-Hi could sing like that?!

Despite there only be only set throughout, the costumes were perfect and the cast of just seven altogether, along with the band, seemed like they were having a blast. From the same producers as Fame and Footloose, even if you weren't from that era like myself, this musical will leave you wanting to Swing your way back there.