BE MORE CHILL

By Kelly Jackson | @kellyjackson88 | Press Invite

It’s just your atypical love story – a guy (he wants to fit in), a girl (she wants to be noticed), and the supercomputer inside the guy’s head that tells him what to do (it wants to take over the world!)

Be More Chill. Sounds like a plan, right?

I’d never heard of Be More Chill before I got the opportunity to review the show, but it’s actually quite well know. Don’t ever be put off if I say I haven’t heard of something though, despite having a London lifestyle blog which would make you think I would be more up-to-date with things going on in the city but I am SO unobservant.

Be More Chill is at “The Other Palace” so can you guess the location? Yes, it is in a street next to the Queen’s house. The nearest station is probably Victoria, which was where I genuinely thought I had got off until I tried to walk Tanya back there after the show and realised that I had actually got off at Green Park. I actually managed to get off of a train, exit a station, and then map my way to the theatre without even realising that I hadn’t got off at Victoria. Some people might call things like that stupid, but I consider it a talent.

The Other Palace is a lovely size for a theatre. They have a mid-size front area and bar and the actual theatre itself (proscenium arch stage, hello theatre studies) was quite large but not too large like some of the West End ones. I find if the theatre is too big and you don’t end up with very good seats you spend the majority of the play squinting wondering which character is which (or maybe I am just still really blind even with my glasses on).

The set and scenery are quite futuristic and modern. One of the things I found strange about Be More Chill is so entertaining that I didn’t wonder once what time the play was set in. The story centres around Jeremy, played by Scott Folan, who navigates life with his geeky-but-lovable sidekick Michael. Neither of them realises deep-down how lucky they are to have the friends and family they have and both of them have an insatiable desire to become popular.

A chase encounter with one of their classmates Rich, played by James Hameed, Jeremy founds out that to fulfil his dream of being popular he can drink a microchip called a “SQUIP” that will tell him what to do/use him to take over the world. He doesn’t share this information with anyone he is close to of what is actually going on, so as you can imagine the change in his personality causes some friction.

One of the best things about Be More Chill is the songs. Because the play doesn’t take itself too seriously you end up with some hilarious bangers like “Put your pants on”. Most of the music is upbeat, which lends itself to the comedic nature of the content. You can’t help but get truly invested in the story while you are watching this and my favourite character was Michael, played by Blake Patrick Anderson.

I can’t put my finger on what it is that I loved so much about this between the story, the fantastic acting, or the songs, but I think it could be a mixture of all of them. And now nice is it to watch a NEW musical? Don’t get me wrong I love the classics as much as the next person, but it was so refreshing to watch something where I didn’t even have an idea of what was coming next!

If you get the chance you should definitely go and see Be More Chill, it’s fantastic!