PUNK OFF!
Dominion Theatre
9th March 2025
Punk Off will see Punk and New Wave hits, attitude and fashion brought to the stage by a talented cast of musicians, singers and dancers on a punk journey that will thrill audiences, from original punk fans to audiences new to the genre. Punk Off will feature hits originally performed by The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Blondie, The Damned, Ramones, Buzzcocks, The Undertones, The Police, The Jame, Siouxsie and The Banshees, The Pretenders, Joy Division, The Stranglers and so many more on this incredible rollercoaster journey through Punk and New Wave!
Review by Richard Lambert, 4 Stars
Not just a concert, with Kevin Kennedy narrating, the history of PUNK and it’s key players is brought to life in this spectacular show finishing it’s tour at the Dominion Theatre.
PUNK is clearly alive, well and very definitely kicking as this huge audience showed at the Dominion Theatre. Admittedly, the majority age group was closer to retirement age than most audiences you’ll see at a concert these days, but they still had their Punk costumes, T-shirts of their legends, and even more surprisingly, most of their clothes still fit!
If the 60’s rebellious youth wore shoes without socks, had lots of sex and did drugs, the 70s were more about swearing and outspoken discontent with their lot. Creating music with swear words, head banging, sniffing glue, ripped clothes, leather, and crossing over into heavy metal regalia brought us, most notably, the Sex Pistols.
This concert depicts this with lots of choreographic head-banging and jumping around. A very energetic show that’s a real tribute to the era, style and music of Punk.
The lighting for this is truly spectacular! An awesome set of looks brought out from the “Devil Wears Prada” rig. Made even more remarkable by the fact that as a touring show, they would have had very little time to get their showfile updated for this rig. It was fabulous!
The sound worked well – a live band of 3 musicians. All accompanied by singers and dancers from the company.
Basic staging – rolling platform elements, clothes rails, a flight case – took their turns to be wheeled on and off and used by the cast. Relatively simple staging but all carried of with so much energy and enthusiasm and talent by the cast that they made it work.
The audience adored this trip back to the 70’s and I’m sure it will have another tour.
Photo credit: Stephen Niblett
CAST LIST:
Kevin Kennedy – Narrator; Adam Evans – Featured Artist; Reece Davies – Featured Artist; Lazy Violet – Featured Artist; Ric Yarborough – Drums/Vocals; Phil Sherlock – Bass/Vocals; Louisa Clark – Featured Dancer; Joshua Fowler – Featured Dancer
Exec Director Ross Mills
Director GeD Graham
Set Design Se7ven Productions
Lighting Design Alistair Penman
LX Programmer James Goodall
Sound Design Alistair Penman
Choreographer Louisa Clark
Musical Director Adam Evans
Punk Off – The Sounds of Punk and New Wave
Dates 22nd January – 9th March 2025
Box Office Tickets are available from the theatre websites with full details on https://punk-off.com/ Age Guidance 14+
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