Eugenius!
"For a fun, joyful, 80’s filled night at the theatre you won’t get better anywhere else"
As a die hard fan of this show, I had high hopes for its return to London, this time at The Turbine Theatre, and I was not disappointed!
The venue has been turned into a comic book shop of every geek’s dreams; walls adorned with 80’s style superhero artwork as well as figures of E.T and Darth Vader to greet us as we make our way into the auditorium. The tiny space has been used to its full potential, this show feels huge for this venue (maybe in hopes of a transfer somewhere bigger!) with the design spilling off the stage it unintentionally feels like an immersive piece.
If you caught this show on its previous run at The Other Palace or even when it was streamed online as lockdown entertainment, you will be glad to hear this revival is mainly the same, with small changes to costume and set design overall it’s the Eugenius we know and love. If you’ve never seen it before you’re in for a great ride. We first meet Eugene as he’s dreaming up an idea for a new comic book in his series, featuring the hero ‘Tough Man’ and his sidekick ‘Super Hot Lady’. Eugene (Elliott Evans) is a self proclaimed GEEK along with his 2 best friends Janey (Jaina Brock-Patel) and Feris (James James) who help him on his way to Hollywood to have his story turned into a movie! Along the way we realise the story may be more real than we first thought!
With Book and Lyrics coming from Chris Wilkins and Ben Adams, this is a slick show. It’s jam packed with nostalgic references, hilarious jokes and great 80’s style tunes which will stay in your head for days after seeing this show – the finale song is one that will have you dancing and singing along in no time! One downfall here though is the volume of the music drowning out the actors at many points. As a fan of the show I know it well but for anyone new, a lot will be lost by purely not being able to hear the well written lines and lyrics.
Casting has been done perfectly in this show, the 3 leads work wonderfully together and are believable as a gang. Elliott Evans as Eugene brings a wonderful warm presence to the role with huge vocals that will blow you away. Jaina Brock-Patel is fantastically feisty Janey – standing up for her friends when they’re not able, she’s the gal pal we all need! A star is being born on the Turbine stage in Joseph Beach playing Evil Lord Hector – he’s comically maniacal giving us his best pantomime villain laugh while striking everyone down with lightning bolts!
Special mention must be given to Set and Lightning designer Andrew Exeter who along with video designer Andy Walton, have made the most of the small space they were given, creating a large comic book style screen they cleverly use projections to give the illusions of different spaces for each scene.
Eugenius became a fan favourite many years ago, and the ‘Eugenies’ as they call themselves have been crying out for it to return and it’s not hard to see why. For a fun, joyful, 80’s filled night at the theatre you won’t get better anywhere else. Given a chance in a bigger theatre it would be a huge success.
This show was reviewed on the 22nd March 2023. Eugenius! runs at The Turbine Theatre until the 28th May 2023.
Tickets available here: Eugenius | The Turbine Theatre
Review written by Rosie Browne
Photo credit: Pamela Raith
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