Review: Bat Boy at the Southwark Playhouse

Bat Boy
Southwark Playhouse
Reviewed on Wednesday 14th January 2015
★★★

What could possibly be strange about a musical that follows a family who take in a child raised by bats and teach him the ways of the world? Everything! Without doubt Bat Boy is one of the strangest musicals I have ever seen - it is an enjoyable nightmare.

Interview: Matthew White

Matthew White is currently starring in the first London revival of Bat Boy. The musical begins performances at the Southwark Playhouse tonight (9th January) and runs until Saturday 31st January 2015.

Bat Boy was inspired by an article run by American tabloid The Weekly World News; a paper of fabricated stories that many unsuspecting readers believed to be real. The musical won New York’s Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards for Best Off-Broadway Musical in 2001. It received its UK premiere in 2004 at West Yorkshire Playhouse prior to a West End run at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

Matthew’s theatre credits include Ragtime (Piccadilly, Olivier Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor), Chicago (Adelphi), The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s), Kiss of the Spider Woman (Shaftesbury) and Les Misérables (Palace). 

Matthew is also a hugely successful director. His work includes: Top Hat (Aldwych/UK Tour), Sweet Charity (Menier Chocolate Factory/Theatre Royal, Haymarket) and Little Shop of Horrors (Menier Chocolate Factory/Duke of York’s Theatre). He is also directing the upcoming UK Tour of The Producers starring Jason Manford, Louie Spence and Ross Noble.

I recently spoke to Matthew about what people can expect from Bat Boy and what first attracted him to the production as well as Top Hat’s huge success and why he’s so thrilled to be directing The Producers…

Over recent years you have been best known for your work as a director, so what attracted you to starring in Bat Boy?

Well I have never actually given up acting, I’ve always carried on doing it – just maybe not in a very high profile way. I thought Bat Boy was a fascinating piece, I didn’t know it very well. I liked the character, Dr Parker. He’s pretty dark and I generally tend to be drawn to darker characters… I don’t really know why [laughs]. I really like the Southwark Playhouse, I love these smaller fringe venues that are popping up around London. They tend to put on some really good stuff. I just thought it would be a nice job and it’s just a short contract which, for me, works really well. So it appealed to me on lots of different levels, plus I recently saw Luke’s production of Carousel and thought he looked like an interesting young director to work with!