Hooked On Laughter Royal Hippodrome Theatre Eastbourne review

Hooked On Laughter

Royal Hippodrome Theatre

Eastbourne

March 8th -3rd November 2010

Starring (appearance order)

Georgia Lee
Drew Cameron
Vicki Lane *
Dance Fantazy (Jo-Anna Pitt, Donna Pitt, Hayley Kember, Kerry-Ann Steadman)
Steve Hewlett (and Friends)
Wayne Champagne
Vizage (Sam and *Vicki Lane)

Having already seen Steve Hewlett twice this year we finally got to see him and his Friends in the show he is actually starring in. I would have thought that having seeing Steve at two charitable events already I may have seen most of this act already. I thought wrong. Although there was the odd piece of material we had seen I would say 95% of it was completely fresh content.

This talented ventriloquist really does seem to have a bottomless pit of material from which he can keep young and old fully entertained, with his range of puppets being diverse and impressive. Actually that was the thing that stumped us. The kids are still on holiday but there was not a child in sight. Children would absolutely love every part of Steve's act in this show.

Perhaps it's the 8.15pm start that puts off families with children? It's certainly not the shows content which these days is about as family friendly as you are going to get.

As always with The Hippodrome's variety show each entertainer has multiple appearances and it is great that with Steve, quite rightly, being the headline act he has at least 7 different sequences. Don't just expect laughter from the ventriloquism either, he's quite the comedian too.

As always it's a long season for the Royal Hippodrome's variety show, 8 months in fact. But like last year it's a very varied, energetic show.

The lovely local girls of dance group Dance Fantazy are as well choreographed as ever and looking great. Singer Georgia Lee and Comedian Wayne Champagne make a very welcome return too.

Now wouldn't it have been easy for director and producer Colin Matthews to have taken the easy option and given Georgia some tracks she sung last year or letting Wayne come out with the same jokes?

Fortunately, Mr Matthews doesn't appear to favour this approach, realizing that local people who thoroughly enjoyed the show last year are likely to return this year, and every year ,as long as the material is fresh and entertaining.

That is exactly what this show is. It is also why this show continues to attract coach loads of people from far and wide. This is the type of variety show that many of us, who are old enough to remember, used to watch on a Sunday evening on TV in the days when we only had 3 or 4 channels to choose from. It is refreshing to be able to go to a theatre, to watch a show that has been running 6 months, and to find that theatre practically full.

Everybody involved in producing this show appears to have got the formula right. It's a show which gets many of its audience members from word-of-mouth recommendation.

I haven't yet mentioned a couple of the acts yet Drew Cameron is an impersonator and comedian who was on Britain's Got Talent in 2008. He got put through to the semi finals but unfortunately got no further as he took the performers good luck wish of "break a leg" literally. He has a particularly memorable role in this production playing one of Steve Hewlett's dummies.

Since their appearance on Britain's Got Talent husband and wife team, Sam and Vicki Lane, have travelled the world with their quick change clothing/magic and illusion act. It's very entertaining. But it is probably best enjoyed from at least half a dozen or more rows back in the auditorium. If you are too close to the front you can see and hear things that spoils the eventual effect on many of the illusions.

It's a great show performed by a bunch of people who really look as though they are still having a great time together, even with 3 months still to go.

I look forward to seeing who will be in next year's show and after The Sound Of Laughter and Hooked on Laughter what the name will be? Assuming the laughter theme continues how about Rolling with Laughter or Happy ever Laughter?

Not seen Hooked on Laughter yet? Don't miss out. This 2 hour show is still proving extremely popular and with variety shows of this quality rapidly becoming a thing of the past it makes for an entertaining night out.

Friends Of The Devonshire Park Theatre Summer Garden Party 2010

I am delighted to present here many highlights of The Friends Summer Garden party held at Charleston Manor just outside Eastbourne on 7th August 2010.

On the left is actress Louise Jameson who has not only appeared at the Devonshire Park Theatre many times but is also keen to support the theatre.

She made a surprise appearance at this event to give her support.

I am kicking off the rest of the media with my pics of the wonderful Sea Gypsies, Eastbourne's popular belly dancers.

Next I move on to Richard Curtis and his wonderful K9 Freestyle dancing dogs display. Here is a slideshow of the stills I took on the day.

Part 3 arrives in the shape of the worlds finest ventriloquist (in my view anyway) Steve Hewlett and his wonderful Friends. Hope you enjoy these stills.

OK we move on.... general stills now from the event at beautiful Charleston Manor, Litlington, Eastbourne includes more of Louise Jameson's guest appearance.

OK We move on to video highlights. Here is my offering on the Sea Gypsies. It's a mix of HD and standard definition footage. I made a clips production rather than posting any full track/dance sequence as I think the full performance is best appreciated live and doing this way it is more of a promotional video yet still entertaining.

More video with Richard Curtis and his K9 Freestyle Dancing Dogs. I thought I would be doing just one video. However Richard's presentation is educational for dog owners as well as entertaining. Taking this into account and with the amount of footage we shot I decided to produce individual videos of each dog.

I should point out that on YouTube many videos of Richard have ended up completely silent because users have uploaded video with Richards background music playing. The copyright owners have objected and YouTube have censored accordingly. This has effectively ruined all such videos as dialogue is cut also.

Where the dogs dance to a background track I have substituted the original music with a fully licenced Smartsound track. I have tried to use music of a similar genre and tempo and although I had doubts as to whether this would work I am actually pleased with the end result.

So here is the first video. Please welcome Richard Curtis and Whizzy....

Next up was cute and tiny Betty

Not finished yet..... here's Pogo

Finally from Richard Curtis we had a bit of a Disco

Last but not least I leave you with the amazingly talented Steve Hewlett.

Steve's had a busy year in 2010. Whilst still undertaking performances around the country he has been starring in the long season variety show Hooked On Laughter at the Royal Hippodrome Theatre in Eastbourne. At the time of writing this he's still there until early November so don't miss it.

Steve has also been busy supporting the friends of the Devonshire Park Theatre. From my other videos you will know Steve entertained at their Spring Fair and here he is at the Summer Garden Party held at Charleston Manor Litlington, Eastbourne.

We had the whole routine on video but I don't think it benefits the artist duplicating the whole act, especially if you are going to see him live.

So, instead, I've produced a 10 minute highlights video. It's ended up being a nice little Steve Hewlett promo video.

In his routines Steve is always very complimentary about other well known ventriloquists. However I truly believe this guy beats them all hands down both by way of skill and personality.

It's not just the ventriloquism but the spontaneity of his act that makes him stand out. Many artists abide by a script no matter what. Not Mr Hewlett he seems to be able to use things going on around him to benefit the act.

His 'voice throwing' skills are amazing and his variety of 'friends' all makes for an act that always leaves you smiling.

Friends Of The Devonshire Park Theatre Summer Fair 7th August 2010

Friends Of The Devonshire Park Theatre

Summer Fair

7th August 2010

Charleston Manor

West Dean

East Sussex

The excellent Steve Hewlett is bringing his friends along for what is guaranteed to be an entertaining routine. Brilliant stuff like this....

Richard Curtis and his Dancing Dogs. Who? This canine training genius ........

The Sea Gypsies will return for more belly dancing and hopefully the sun will shine on them this year... although at least this year it's possible to move indoors!

Something to appeal to all generations. Kids will love Steve (big kids too)

Any pet lover should enjoy Richard Curtis and his canine chums.

Dad's should enjoy the Sea Gypsies and whilst he's occupied mum can wander off and spend his cash on the many stalls to get revenge.

All for a paltry admission fee of £1.50

The official leaflet and map is below. But if you want a clearer idea of where Charleston Manor is if you click the 'location' link at the very bottom of this post who will see an extremely clear Google Map to help you find your way.

Friends Of The Devonshire Park Theatre Spring Fair 2010

Friends Of The Devonshire Park Theatre Spring Fair 2010

Saturday 22nd May 2010

9.30am to 12 noon

Use the arrows at the side of the video to change the selected scene

An incredibly fine day for a Spring Fair with the sun shining and barely a cloud visible. You can't ask for more.

Well you could ask for an incredibly talented ventriloquist to turn up and to perform for free and for all the stars of your latest thriller to put in an appearance that may help.

Well it's just as well the Friends did ask because they ALL turned up and gave their time to this fund raising cause.

The brilliant Steve Hewlett took a break from his long season at The Royal Hippodrome theatre in Hooked On Laughter and put on an excellent spontaneous show accompanied by one of his own "Friends", Arthur. Steve showed that he is not only a skilled ventriloquist at a rehearsed routine but that he is equally skilled at ad-libbing, adjusting his routine and still being incredibly funny in an ever changing environment. The footage you see on this review is a great advert for the Royal Hippodrome show where he appears with other incredibly talented entertainers in an extremely popular show which regularly sells out.

I thought we may be lucky on the day to see one of the stars of Inside Job turn up to support the event. To have all 3 appear was amazing. The lovely Michelle Morris, together with the friendly ex-Emmerdale stars Chris Villiers and Matt Healy were all able to lend their support.

There were a range of stalls including a wine raffle, book stall and tombola. The cakes, which Steve Hewlett and Michelle Morris noticed very quickly went down well! However I must say the plant sales seemed to be incredibly popular. Probably because whoever nurses these plants obviously does a great job. A great priced, quality product, will always sell. I am now talking very nicely to some tomato plants in my greenhouse!

As is always the case with the Friends seasonal fairs, which are held at the theatre, there was the opportunity of a backstage tour with talk for £2.50. These are usually very popular, I have no idea what the take up was today.

Any downside? Well this isn't a show review but 2 and a half hours is never long enough. But with a matinee performance of Inside Job in the afternoon the clearing up would have to be done before the audience starts to arrive.

There's also no point in starting earlier as nobody would be about.

The key here is the star guests. If only you could advertise knowing 100% that these 4 incredible artists would be attending the numbers would have been a heck of a lot higher. Kids (of which there were few) would have loved Steve Hewlett!

But I realise that unless that certainty is 'cast in concrete' there is little point in doing so.

I couldn't help but look around and feel that something was 'missing' from the stalls. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but there looked to be too much free space at the front of the theatre. Some incredibly easy fund raising opportunities are also not adopted.

Nonetheless the existing fair format I expect still raised some worthwhile funds in this beautiful couple of hours.

The summer event is longer as it is held away from the theatre. If The Friends can arrange for some well known artists to definitely be there and advertise it widely people could do well to look at my videos and see that there is a good reason for a great day out. Last years summer fair raised the chance to meet Ruth Madoc, Tony Adams and Harry Dickman from The Last Of The Summer Wine Tour.

Being a Friend Of The Devonshire Park Theatre you really never know who you are going to meet!