Starting out on seedy streets seemed hard but furry friends made it fun

Reading Operatic Society presents Avenue Q

Kenton Theatre

Thursday, September 25

WHAT do you do with a BA in English? That’s the question troubling Avenue Q’s protagonist in the show’s opening number — and one I also faced (well, in history) when I saw it on the West End in 2006. Almost two decades later, and hopefully closer to finding my own life’s purpose, it was a delight to revisit those seedy streets for Reading Operatic Society’s production.

Despite the smaller venue and budget, this was a slick, faithful and genuinely hilarious recreation of its big-stage counterpart, with uniformly impressive performances supported by high-quality set design.

For the uninitiated, it’s easiest to think of it as an X-rated take on Sesame Street — albeit, as its creators have stressed, in no way connected.

The show features a diverse cast of human and puppet characters, the latter brought to life by actors with their own faces visible. It’s a conceit that leaves onlookers constantly switching between the furry critters and the people holding and voicing them but it’s part of the charm.

The parallels end there, however, unless I missed the episodes where the characters get drunk, make racist jokes, sing the praises of internet pornography — and, in one unforgettable scene, enjoy a wild night of passion in multiple positions.

But beneath the crude gags, there’s a heartfelt coming-of-age story that still rings true for anyone taking their first steps into adulthood.

Avenue Q follows fresh graduate Princeton, played with the perfect mix of easily-bruised confidence and cautious optimism by Henry Bearman, as he makes his home in the only neighbourhood he can afford.

His dreams of changing the world soon meet the harsh reality of unemployment, but he’s not alone in struggling to carve out a meaningful existence. Whether it’s henpecked neighbour Brian (director Thomas Atkinson-Joy), or his kind-hearted but directionless love interest Kate Monster (Susie Williamson), everyone is wrestling with life’s complexities in their own way.

It feels wrong to single out any cast member, but Scott Taylor shone as Rod — an uptight (and definitely not gay) investment banker bursting with repressed emotions.

Ian Smith stole the spotlight as Trekkie Monster, a larger-than-life attic-dweller with an addiction to the internet’s seedier quarters, while Charley Coleman got plenty of laughs as femme fatale Lucy the Slut. This was clearly a labour of love for everyone involved.

James Burton