First review of ORIGINS & LEMONS - the new revue show from Riding Lights

Review: Origins & Lemons, Riding Lights Theatre Company, on tour until December 5

YORK EVENING PRESS

9:55am Thursday 1st October 2009

Origins & Lemons, Riding Lights Theatre Company, on tour until December 5 I’ve been to a few Riding Lights performances now, including African Snow and Redemption Song, but Origins & Lemons – Squeezing The Juice Out Of Genesis was my first experience of a Riding Lights revue.

People said it would be like the early Riding Lights performances; I’d enjoyed their other recent productions, so I wasn’t quite sure what the difference would be or if there was going to be any.

The title Origins & Lemons was curious and raised a few questions: was it only focused on the Bible; did I need to be a scientist to understand Darwinism; or did I merely need to go with an open mind and be prepared for a good night out? Riding Lights is a Christian theatre company from York, so is Origins & Lemons about the Bible? It is, yet it also examines the origins of life today in a pleasantly thought-provoking way. Was it hilarious? Absolutely; the person sitting next to me said it reminded them of Monty Python.

The show is a series of sketches with songs, one being a fantastic play on words of the original Oranges And Lemons song. Written and directed by Paul Burbidge and Nigel Forde, two of the founding members of Riding Lights, the revue plunges into some of the issues that have aroused people’s curiosity since the dawn of time.

This is not dumbed-down comedy. In the year that marks the bi-centenary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of his landmark publication of The Origin Of Species, this performance reaches out to everybody.

Actors Alan Christopher, Fred Denno, Jamie Higgins and Rachel Wilcock use a mixture of observation, imagination and light-heartedness to take the audience back to the very beginning, concentrating on “the Why? of the created world”. The Friargate Theatre was full to bursting on Tuesday for the opening night of a UK tour that will arrive back in York on December 3. Other performances include St Andrew’s Church, Starbeck, Harrogate, on November 25.

The opening two nights in York were sold out weeks ago, so anyone wishing to see this show on its return should book straight away. I left the theatre saying with complete honesty to one member of the Riding Lights team: “That was the best night I’ve had at the theatre in years”. • For tickets, visit www.ridinglights.org/o&l or phone 01904 613000.