Cover Image: The cast of Urinetown bursts into gleeful chaos, blending satire with big musical-theatre energy at Liberty Theatre. Photo: Mark Flower Photography.

Urinetown
Western Sky Projects
Directed by Andrew Baker

Brechtian theatrical practice demands a production shun illusion and lay bare its devices, to crash through the fourth wall to make the audience aware they are watching a play and not to seduce them with  spectacle.

Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis embrace the Brechtian ideals so enthusiastically in their 2001 show Urinetown they even parody the ideas of Brechtian theatre itself, kicking off with an overture straight out of Brecht and Weill’s The Threepenny Opera followed by the number Too Much Exposition! (“Nothing can kill a show like too much exposition,” sings Officer Lockstock, the narrator).

Then comes a madcap sendup of what feels like whole history of musical theatre, with this story of the privatisation of peeing — think Brecht in the bog — filtered through catchy and funny parodies of Les Miserables, Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story and Guys and Dolls.

Somehow a show that boasts what the characters themselves admit is the worst title in the theatre history (so bad it delayed the show making it to Broadway) and a torrent of jokes about the soaring price of spending a penny manages to be a sharp critique of greed, environmental rape and out-of-control capitalism that is even more relevant today than when it was first performed in 2001.

It is the nuttiest confluence of ideas and elements I can recall in a lifetime of theatre-going which this dazzling Western Sky Projects production fully acknowledges and owns, with the cast throwing themselves into the piece so fearlessly it left the opening night audience at the Liberty Theatre exhausted and exhilarated.

Set in a Gotham-like mythical city sometime in the near future, Urinetown kicks off with the Gestapo-ish Officer Lockstock (Nick MacLaine) and Little Sally (Madeleine Shaw) explaining that a drought has led to a government-enforced ban on public toilets and the population forced to pay for “the privilege to pee”.

When cash-strapped Old Man Strong (Thomas Papathanassiou) is hauled off to Urinetown after disgracing himself in public his son Bobby (Marshall Brown), an employee of the town’s filthiest amenity, leads an uprising against an evil toilet-controlling corporation led by Caldwell B. Gladwell (Chris McCafferty), which is complicated by Bobby’s passion for Gladwell’s bubbly, innocent daughter Hope (Izzy Green).

Thus kicks off an all-singing, all-dancing story of revolution and romance, in which the proletariat fight for their rights to pee for free while their leader is entangled in a West Side Story-ish heart-versus-head emotional struggle.

Urinetown started out as a fringe show and, despite the size of the cast and the scale of the numbers, has retained its knockabout spirit, which is in keeping with its Brechtian inspiration. It is a musical about musicals but it feels like it erupts out of the anarchy.

Elevating the danger and craziness is squeezy performing space, with the cast not just in the face of those in the front row but almost sitting in their laps. Don’t think about getting up for a pee half way through as you’ll be part of the action.

And the Liberty Theatre’s exposed ceiling and the unfinished walls make for the perfect setting for this madcap dystopian tale which is made up for fragments of musical history, a civilisation so broken that even the most basic of human rights — relieving oneself — has been commercialised.

While the romantic leads Brown and Green work up a lovely old-school sweetness amidst the outbreak of bad taste  — the fun of the show is collision of mainstream musical theatre tradition and toilet humour — this is a genuine ensemble piece, with all the performers given their moment to shine. Director Andrew Baker lets his talented tribe off the leash, yet somehow manages to keep them all on track.

However, I have to make special mention of Sharon Kiely as Penelope Pennywise, the hard-arsed boss of the town’s crappiest crapper who is later revealed to have a special connection to heartless conveniences CEO. Kiely is a powerhouse performer who perfectly captures the playfulness of the piece, turning it on in villain mode then signalling to the audience how much she is enjoying crushing people’s dreams of a pee.

And McLaine’s narrator-cum-heavy Officer Lockstop keeps this delightful whirligig of a production grounded, bouncing nicely off Shaw’s wise-beyond-her years Little Sally, an Annie of the underbelly with philosophical insights. 

The five-piece band led by Taui Pinker also deserves a special mention, kicking off with a pitch-perfect rending of Brecht and Weill-esque overture then segueing smoothly across an array of musical styles.

And even though we are swept up and seduced by the song-and-dance spectacle — Brecht would be spinning in his coffin — the critique of the excesses of capitalism is never buried, so much so that there are a couple of plot twists so unusual in musicals it is almost revolutionary in itself.

Which is the the point of this startling original mix of showbiz musical (it is in the tradition of Chicago and The Producers) and radical politics, which means that it is crying out to be made at a time with Trump is putting on Gatsby-esque parties in in Florida while a socialist has been elected in New York, a man of the people who wants to make public transport free. 

With that deliberately appalling title Urinetown was never going to be staged at The Crown, so kudos to Baker and Western Sky Projects for bringing us a gleefully full-blooded, hugely entertaining provocation that fully deserves more than a one-week season. 

Urinetown is on at the Liberty Theatre until November 15. Tickets through Try Booking.