Review: SALTY BRINE: BIGMOUTH STRIKES AGAIN – THE SMITHS SHOW, Soho Theatre

Photo credit: Tristram Kenton

New York-based cabaret performer Salty Brine, creator of the Living Record Collection, makes his stunning London debut with the passionate, erudite and unremittingly entertaining Bigmouth Strikes Again – The Smiths Show.

The Living Record Collection is a delightfully innovative project that playfully twists the style and form of celebrated albums to create something completely original and insightful. In his latest offering at the Soho Theatre, Salty twists the story of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein around the classic Smiths’ album, The Queen Is Dead.

You really have to see it to believe how elegantly and humorously Salty Brine weaves his show – working in context about the creation of Mary Shelley’s masterpiece as well as insights and reflections about Salty’s own life and process as an artist.

This show will appeal to anyone with a penchant for romantic literature, an affinity for 80s indie music and a track record of venting teenage angst through forlorn poetry. And as a former arts undergrad, this show felt like it was specifically written for me personally.

With a remarkable respect and affection for his source material, Salty blows apart form and convention to reveal something new and beautiful in Bigmouth Strikes Again – a show that contemplates queerness, creativity, loneliness and what it means to seek glory.

Salty also deftly deals with the difficulty of reconciling this much-loved album with the muddied reputation of its main contributor Morrissey, in pertinent reflection on artistic ownership. As one of many Smiths fans jaded by the behaviours and speech of the former frontman, we can assure you this is a show that you can consume wholly with no guilt or shame.

Beyond the poignancy and passion that oozes from Salty Brine’s writing, the performances in this show are stellar. Salty Brine is an astonishing performer in all areas – a consummate storyteller and a singer with astonishing variety, poise and control. All members of the four-piece band provide faultless support – and particular congratulations are due to musical director Ben Moss who steers a company so expertly you would think they share one mind.

I think it’s perhaps reneging on my role as a reviewer to state that I don’t have words enough to praise this show. Unexpected, fiendishly funny, poignant and full of love – do not miss this show. A London theatre highlight for 2023.

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: Livvy Perrett

Salty Brine: Bigmouth Strikes Again - The Smiths Show plays at Soho Theatre until 16 September, with further information here.