Born before 74 endeavours to capture the spirit of the music and life of the (mostly) 60s and 70s.  The show is made up of amusing pastiches from these eras delivered by glitzy Constance Craving.   

Emma Kinane comically supports her with witty repartee of facts for our age groups – e.g. we can spell ‘before’, it has 6 letters and no numbers – and the inspired improvisational piano work of human jukebox Michael Nicholas Williams propels the show forward.

I enjoy the positive theme running through the show, about not worrying about what others think and celebrating body and freedom of expression. This is joyfully portrayed by guest dancers from Crows Feet dance and by Moxy Fizz.  

With audience participation the show draws on our memories directly and the vamping on memorable songs is fun. 

The pleasant and warm sentiment is not well supported by the stark staging of mainly just keyboard and mic. Making it more of a homely parlour type setting with some creative use of memorabilia or iconic images from the time might help with the nostalgia fest and would warm the atmosphere.  

With only just squeaking in to the age group of born before ’74, it is less of a trip down memory lane for myself and doesn’t cater for audience members born before the 50s. Mum wonders whether ‘the jukebox’ would know her favourite teenage song, ‘Tammy’.

It is a short and sweet cabaret at just under an hour long and the audience enjoys being included in the nostalgia.

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer