Creators: Sarah-Louise Young and Russell Lucas
This is a one-woman show. Sarah-Louise Young has a great voice and sings around fifteen Kate Bush songs, very convincingly to a recorded soundtrack. The songs are combined with some Bush-like dance moves and mime; shadow puppetry; the occasional fact about Bush; messages from fans about how important she’s been in their life; and lots of chatting to the audience. Young makes light of the thinness and slow start of the show by telling us ‘not to worry because the show hasn’t started yet…’ – it’s 30 minutes before she tells us it’s started. It’s an impressive feat to hold the stage for almost two hours, but her singing of Bush’s songs is by far the most enjoyable part of the show.
Young and Russell Lucas created the piece six years ago and it was premiered at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe. Those fringe origins are clear – around an hour’s worth of content and a very bare set, with just a suitcase of ‘home-made’ Kate Bush costumes, wigs and props. The magnificent Crucible stage seems too big – in all respects – for a show like this. The diminutive Young, dressed often in black, in front of a massive black backcloth and on a black stage, makes it difficult to impress. She makes interesting use of spotlights and hand held lights, and her movement is expansive, but the spectacle is too small for the space. A more intimate venue would surely work better.
Nevertheless, if you like your Kate Bush, you’ll really enjoy the songs including Running Up That Hill, Cloudbusting, The Man With The Child In His Eyes, Wow, Them Heavy People, King of the Mountain, Hammer Horror, This Woman’s Work, Hounds of Love and Babooshka. Young carries off the songs with great aplomb. The show ends with Bush’s first recorded song – Wuthering Heights – which sadly Young doesn’t sing, but rather turns the microphone on us…
Reviewed on 15th July 2025. Currently touring.