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Old 03-05-2016, 12:10 PM
marcio marcio is offline
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I saw Mrs Henderson last week. I was in about the 5th row on the left of centre. First, the nudity, It lasts no more than 10 minutes in a 2 hour 15 minute show and that includes the 3 - 4 minute fan dance at the very end, where Emma Williams is obviously naked but where you do little more than sn*tch a glimpse (as opposed to glimpse her sn*tch) of naked flesh. Then at the end of the scene (the end of the show) she retreats (walking backwards) to the back of the stage and raises the fans - but there is subtle lighting and it lasts for about 1 second before the lights go off. (The show does seem to have a thing about bottoms - the only ones I saw are guys, in the first half).

Most of the nudity is in two tableaux - the first where the girls (four or five) are obviously nude (breasts on full display) but carefully posed. However, you can tell that they haven't got a pubic hair between them, not a whisker. The second where there is an air raid. In this latter scene Emma walks naked towards the front of the stage, covering herself carefully with her prop (a small lyre) and then stands with her left leg posed so that you don't really see a lot of her slit. However, I can report that I did see the very top of it, that the area is indeed as clean as a whistle, and that people sitting towards the left would see a lot more. At the end of this scene she backs away (I'm not sure why she is so coy about her backside, I'm sure it's perfectly presentable).

Someone else mentioned Lizzie Connolly running round during this scene but I don't recall that, it's possible I just missed it.

So, it's not worth going for the nudity. There was actually more than I was expecting but having seen the show I think they could have done more. For example, a later scene refers to some soldiers causing havoc by bringing in a mouse - that would have been funny and entirely in keeping with the story.

As a show, it's a case of two halves. The first half is fast paced and quite funny with two nude scenes. The second half flags badly because the subject matter is more serious and frankly the actors aren't good enough to keep you engaged in serious points about the war and mortality. I looked at my watch several times, until the fan dance at the very end livened it up again. The so called comedian holding it all together is dire, by the way. His jokes just aren't funny (and I don't mean they are sexist or whatever, they're just poor).

All in all it's a pity because I think it could have been so much better.

In case anyone is interested, the best show I've seen recently in London is Kinky Boots. No nudity at all, just fun.
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