Cocked And Reloaded

Back to BATS Theatre, this time to see Cocked And Reloaded. Oo-er, missus, that sounds a bit rude! Well, yes it is. From the same people who brought us When Booty Calls, this is a tale from the Wild West.

The show didn’t start until 7:30pm so we decided to risk it and not book a restaurant, and instead see what there was on offer around the lower Courtenay Place area. We soon settled on Indian Alley, a somewhat upmarket Indian restaurant. We had fairly standard fare there, but it was well done, and with Kingfisher on tap to wash it down it was very acceptable.

We then trotted around the corner to BATS, a little early as it happened, so we sat in the bar doing the crossword for a bit. Some of the cast came into the bar in costume, and we reckoned they might be selecting victims willing participants for the play, so we scurried into the theatre and took seats where we were unlikely to be called on. Turned out to be an unnecessary precaution, but we were handed a numbered envelope by Daisy, on arrival. When I say numbered, they were just 1, 2 or 3. We were told to hang onto these until directed to open them.

The action unfolds in Madame Fiz’s bar in the Wild West town of Spork, where there is a shortage of non-alcoholic beverages. Indeed, all the beverages have been replaced by…beans! Madame Fiz and Daisy set out on a mission to find out who's behind it. For this, they need to locate Spork's missing sheriff, whilst Mandy Mayor keeps the peace in town. Fiz (short for Efizabeth) enlists the aid of town drunk and washboard player, Moonshine Porridge, to assist in their quest. With no horses, they have to walk through the desert, and they are waylaid by bounty-hunting triplets. There’s fights, physical comedy, action, a lot of whipcracking, contemporary jokes and breaking of the fourth wall, as the protagonists work out their issues and discover the truth about their pasts, on the path to true love. It’s a rollicking good ride and well worth the wait at the end, when we find out what’s in the envelopes, and what we’re supposed to do with them.