Gig review: Wow: A Celebration of Kate Bush, Theatre Royal, Glasgow

By Fiona Shepherd
Published on 26/02/2013 10:29

TO THE eternal frustration of her fans, Kate Bush only ever toured once, in 1979. With the cult of Kate as strong as ever, it’s a wonder no-one has mounted an all-singing, all-movement tribute show such as this before.

Wow: A Celebration of Kate Bush

Theatre Royal, Glasgow

****

She is a daunting talent to emulate, and Dutch performer Maaike Breijman, who looks more than sounds like Bush, didn’t quite inhabit the role with the requisite demented conviction. But Wow – The Show was put together with such love, utilising costumes, choreography and props in addition to the services of an impressive band, that it ultimately proved irresistible.

Where there was no Bush live performance to imitate, Breijman took her cues from the bonkers videos, recreating the womb-like orb from Breathing, the pas de deux with double bass from Babooshka and even the delightfully eccentric Cloudbusting machine, in order to present a tribute which spanned Bush’s career, from her extraordinary debut Wuthering Heights – dispatched in regulation floaty frock with accurate Kate choreography – right through to the brooding drama of King Of The Mountain via huge hits and album tracks.

There were misfires along the way, such as a ropey rendition of The Man With The Child In His Eyes. Instead, Breijman was at her best when bouncing – literally, in the case of a lithe Rubberband Girl – off her two male dancers to evoke the tribal hysteria of Sat In Your Lap, the weird war requiem of Army Dreamers and, best of all, the irrepressible uplift of The Big Sky.