En-Suite Charity

Sweet Grassmarket    31 July - 24 August @ 20.35    The Uplifters

En-Suite Charity is a brand new musical comedy which follows charity shop manager, Sheila (Hilary Palmer), in her efforts to save the business from an evil property developer (Miss Tweedie, played by Natalie Barker) and wed love of her life – Monty (Rowan Dixon).

This is a commendable first attempt by The Uplifters at a musical, recreating Acorn Antiques – The Musical! in a different setting. But the idea doesn’t always work despite the enthusiasm of the cast (particularly Palmer and Dixon), and the piece lacks the charm of Antiques which feels like its source material. A lot of the characterisation is based on stereotypes, which is all fine and amusing, but when you’re relying on an unpredictable audience to provide enough laughter to cover the cracks…and they don’t deliver, the piece falls down flat.

For a musical, one of the most important components is the musical score and in this case, Harriet Thomas’ pre-recorded synthesised compositions don’t fit at all with the action on stage, the CD player dictating the speed of delivery.

It’s good fun if you buy into it, but the show needs developing more if The Uplifters wish to take the piece further professionally.