Poetry slam champ’s Die Hard parody written in rhyming verse goes down a storm in Newbury
Yippee Ki Yay at the Corn Exchange on Friday, September 22. Review by ROBIN STRAPP
THE classic all action thriller Die Hard, starring Bruce Willis, has been a Christmas film to watch with a loyal following of fans since it was first screened in the 1980s.
Set in a Los Angeles skyscraper office block, where an off duty cop, John McClane, is attending a Christmas party, gunmen attack and take over the building, determined to rob the safe that has seven high-security locks. Quite a challenge. The gang take hostages, including his estranged wife Holly.
Richard Marsh’s hilarious parody, Yippee Ki Yay is witty and written in rhyming verse. He was a poetry slam champion and it shows. This one man show is performed with panache, energy and tongue in cheek humour by Darrel Bailey, who commands the stage with gleeful playfulness and total belief in his roles.
He embraces Willis’ character with grit and determination including stripping down to wearing the McClain famous white vest which he splashes with red paint much to the cheers of the audience. His physicality and engagement with the audience is imposingly powerful.
He plays all the other characters with enthusiasm including the German evil terrorist Hans Gruber who speaks as if he went to RADA, together with his vicious henchman Karl, portrayed by a gigantic teddy bear which is absolutely hilarious.
There is so much inventiveness in this production which is superbly directed by Hal Chambers with Emma Webb as movement director.
Nakatomi Plaza’s luxurious tower block is imaginatively represented by a half- full box of After Eight mints which Bailey offers to the audience sitting in the front row and the famous fountain is a child’s watering can poured in to a plastic bucket. All tremendous fun.
The special effects are impressive as we imagine punches landing, finger guns shooting bullets which we follow in slow motion all with synchronised sound designed by Ben Hudson and Robbie Butler’s atmospheric lighting builds the dramatic tension.
Yippee Ki Yay is a great evening’s entertainment for Die Hard enthusiasts and those who haven’t seen the film may be tempted to seek it out.
