War of the Worlds

Underbelly's Baby Belly    31 July - 11 August, 13-24 @ 16.20    Pip Utton

The famous 1898 novel by H.G. Wells “The War of the Worlds” is an epic story of Martian invasion. The book has spawned, amongst other things, a spoof broadcast of alien invasion by Orson Welles in 1938 that struck panic into Americans, and two film versions in 1953 and 2005. The production at Underbelly is a one-man stage version, written by Doreen Wayne with music by Jeff Wayne. The Wayne album was a big success 30 years ago, with Richard Burton as narrator.

This show is tenaciously performed by fringe veteran Pip Utton. The problem is one of conflicting scale where the epic soundtrack score sits uneasily in the narrow action of the performance space. I think this musical version would work better if supported by a large technological production. At Underbelly however, the audience’s imagination is restricted by being both focused on one performer, and limited in this small arena of war. The unrepentant music is almost irksome at times, when trying to concentrate on the well delivered spoken story. I think I would prefer to listen to Pip Utton, sitting peacefully centre stage, just reading the original novel.