Soho Theatre has announced a 12-night run of String Vs Spitta starring Kiell Smith-Bynoe (Ghosts, Stath Let’s Flats) and Ed MacArthur (Murder for Two, Stack) from Monday 29th November until Saturday 11th December. Tickets are on sale now from https://sohotheatre.com/shows/string-v-spitta/
String Vs SPITTA is a musical comedy about two rival children’s entertainers, but for adults. When it comes to children's entertainment, nobody does it better than Sylvester ‘Silly’ String – a charming classical virtuoso and top dog in the lucrative West London kids’ parties’ market, every kid within a 5-mile radius of the Kings Road wants Silly String and his Silly Songs...until SPITTA comes along. SPITTA is a Grime-obsessed maverick from East London who’s shaken up the scene and quickly become the talk of the Kensington playgrounds. Our heroes, from opposite sides of the tracks, are forced to work together in a double act combining classical and grime. Hopscotching through the minefield of class and race, this is a joyous and shapeshifting comedy set between inner-city estates and the gardens of the super-rich.
Formally playful - socio-politically engaged - often extremely stupid: String Vs SPITTA touches on a seemingly familiar world from a refreshing perspective. The raw unfiltered lives (alongside the dreams and fears set to music) of the performers who turn up at your door with a box of tricks and a bag of emotions. And two titans of the circuit who could achieve greatness if only they put their differences aside for an hour.
For what it’s worth, Kiell and Ed were both sublime children’s entertainers at one point.
Kiell Smith-Bynoe said: “It’s been over 5 years of very hard work and learning to make balloon animals but the run at Soho Theatre makes it all worth it. I cannot wait to make someone a dog when they ask for a giraffe.”
Ed MacArthur said: “I’d love to go back in time, look my younger children’s entertainer self in the eye and tell him that one day, all this endless screaming, scratching and slobbering will inform a non-child friendly mash up of grime and classical music at the Soho theatre with a charming man called Kiell.”
PICTURE: BEN WILKIN
