“Hannah Brackenbury’s ease of word play and joke set-ups capture the best of Victoria Wood’s legacy”
BY KATIE HALL
Performer Hannah Brackenbury has opened her UK tour of the award-winning musical tribute to Victoria Wood “Victorious” to a sold out show at Brighton’s Komedia – and it’s easy to see why.
Victorious has lived up to its name already, winning Best Show at the 2019 Funny Women Awards and Best Of The Festival at the 2018 Brighton Fringe. However, Brackenbury – following eight sold out shows at the Brighton Fringe – felt that the rest of the country’s Victoria Wood fans deserved the opportunity to enjoy this playful and poignant tribute (and they really do).
Blending together well-known Wood musical classics and culminating in a sing-a-long to the ever-popular Ballad Of Barry And Frieda and its never-ending verses, with original, witty ditties inspired by Wood’s characteristic humour and bittersweet honesty, Victorious is a real joy. And Brackenbury does it all with just her voice, a keyboard, and a guitar, her ease of word play and joke set ups (as in The L Word and Car Boot Sale – if you know, you know) capture the very best of Wood’s legacy.
While spoken word interludes carefully guide the audience from one act to the next, we’re ensured a narrative journey rather than just a rehashing of cover songs. At one point, during Andrea (A Better Day) it felt like Wood was in the room singing right along with Brackenbury…
I do hope the dream is achieved of making it all the way up to Manchester, where Wood hails from. If you get the chance to see this, do.
Fancy it? Tour dates can be found at brackers.co.uk #VictoriaVictorious
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nice article.