(quick note: Hit Me! only got a short review because I was a poorly bean the day I wrote it and my brain was functioning at probably around about 20% – sorry sorry sorry!!)
Hit Me! The Life & Rhymes of Ian Dury has been in the papers for weeks. The play about The Blockheads’ lead singer is touring nationally after finishing its second season on the West End. The theatre was packed. It was excellent.
Hit Me! is the creation of Writer / Director Jeff Merrifield, who was originally planning on making a play with Dury in 2000. Dury unfortunately died before his first meeting with Merrifield about the play, subsequently Merrifield began work on a play ABOUT Ian Dury instead.
Starring Mark White as Dury, alongside Josh Darcy, playing his minder, Fred ‘Spider’ Rowe, the play takes us from Dury’s childhood to the height of his fame and after, even beyond the grave as his angel appears in a white top-hat and angel wings.
Hit Me! includes several of Dury’s musical marvels; including Sex an’ Drugs an’ Rock an’ Roll, Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick and Reasons To Be Cheerful, performed charismatically by White and filtered throughout the story.
Overall this show is a quick witted, down to earth, energetic musical comedy with a thousand repetitions of the word ‘c**t’. The acclaimed play received a standing ovation from the sold out theatre at The Met, and that’s a reason to be cheerful, indeed
