Plenty to Shout about in Alhambra show

6:36am Wednesday 14th May 2008

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Review: Shout at The Alhambra For the girls hanging out in Peckham hairdressing salon Best Cuts, life is all about twisting the night away in Mary Quant mini skirts and white boots.

Shout! spans the 1960s, as three girls make their way through financial independence and free love.

The decade unfolds through the pages of Shout magazine, introducing everything from the Pill to "four lads calling themselves the Beatles."

Watching over the girls is chief hairdresser Yvonne, too old for the sexual revolution but still grooving. Sixties images, from Twiggy to a Carnaby Street sign, were emblazoned across the stage, there were authentic vintage costumes and the action raced along in a psychedelic riot of song and dance.

The plot was flimsy - it was 1965 before any of the girls appeared to have a storyline - but it didn't seem to matter. This show celebrates some of the best-loved songs from the Sixties, and the lively audience loved it.

Everyone was on their feet at the end for a medley of crowd-pleasers, sung into the night air as people made their way home.

Su Pollard was a gem as Yvonne, twisting and shimmying through fast-paced dances and belting out showstoppers like You're My World, earning her one of the night's biggest cheers. She's a fabulous entertainer and brought real warmth to the show.

Claire Sweeney, as party girl Ruby, proved a match for the Sixties female greats, with excellent performances of Shout and Alfie. And Donna Steele (Georgie) and Shona White (Betty) delivered flawless performances of To Sir With Love and Little By Little respectively.

The best lines went to the only man, Howard Jones. He was fabulous in various guises, from an ad man with clipped vowels introducing baked beans - "ladies, the way to a man's heart is through a tin" - to a sharp-suited cool cat and a spaced-out hippie reclining on a floral beanbag.

An enjoyable musical flash-back to an era that has a big place in the nation's heart.

Runs until Saturday.