Stomp, The Mayflower (From Daily Echo)

Stomp, The Mayflower

9:45am Wednesday 26th September 2012 in Stage Reviews By Sarah Jones

I’LL admit it. I didn’t think I was going to like Stomp very much.

This was based on a few seconds of the Royal Variety Performance that I’d glimpsed changing channels once.

But my notion that I was going to spend 90 minutes wincing as someone repeatedly banged on a bin-lid couldn’t have been more ill-conceived.

As soon as the adrenalinefuelled whirlwind of a show started the audience was gripped.

With their combination of percussion, movement and visual comedy, an amazing spectacle was created by just eight energetic performers.

Yes, there were bin-lids (they were actually great) but there were also shopping trollies, brooms, newspapers and even the kitchen sink, utilised by the Stomp team to produce pounding beats.

With no dialogue there were plenty of Mr Bean-style laughout- loud moments, which literally had people rocking in their seats.

With Stomp fresh from the Olympic closing ceremony The Mayflower was packed with people of all ages. The Southampton crowd proved they had rhythm, too, clapping, stamping their feet and clicking their fingers in time to create a brilliant encore.

Infectious and awe-inspiring even the biggest of cynics will leave this show with a smile on their face.

Tickets are selling well so be quick not to miss Stomp, which runs until Saturday.