Review: DJ BAZZER’S YEAR 6 DISCO at Golden Goose Theatre 7 – 17 Sept 2021

‘Another great production from Chewboy, with a captivating lead performance’ ★★★★

This is the second show I have seen written by Georgie Bailey of Chewboy productions, and once I again I thought it was brilliant. For DJ Bazzer’s Year 6 Disco, the space at the Golden Goose is transformed into a primary school hall for a ‘leaver’s party’ for eleven-year-olds: the floor is strewn with glowsticks, inflatable animals hang from the ceiling, and we were given party hats to wear. Just as with Tethered, Bailey’s play performed at the Lion and Unicorn in July, the action has started before we even enter, as DJ Bazzer himself is already spinning the decks and dance music blares. We are simultaneously a seated play audience, a crowd of clubgoers, and a bunch of schoolkids. 

Bazzer, played by the extremely energetic and completely captivating Jack Sunderland, tells us we are at Brigdale Primary School - or are we on a rooftop in Magaluf? It’s hard to tell the difference, as these two locations, which should be polar opposites, blur into each other as Bazzer reveals his story, the rise and fall of a DJ. This play is about hopes and dreams, mostly being dashed, and it’s interesting to think about the similarities between where his story starts, and where he ends up: young people contemplating an uncertain future, music as a way of bringing people together and tacky decorations. This play induces nostalgia for childhood, young adulthood, and what happens in between.

I could, should, and will dedicate a paragraph to Sunderland’s performance: He was hilarious as Bazzer singing along to ‘Rock DJ’, dancing with a broom handle as he sweeps up post-disco, and equally affecting when exploring his character’s more vulnerable, guilty side. He was constantly moving, frantic, chaotic, and we couldn’t take our eyes off him. He was clearly able to improvise and riff off the audience depending on how they reacted to him, encouraging them to bounce around a beach ball, play Bop It, or read the lines of another character. He is alone onstage for the hour, and he completely aced it.

Being the only character that we physically see means that some lines were prerecorded, playing over the music of Bazzer’s set: Here lies my only real criticism (if it can be called that) as some of these lines were difficult to hear, as were some of Bazzer’s lines spoken into a microphone, and I couldn’t help feeling I had missed a couple of important plot points here. That said, this seems like a minor technical issue which certainly did not spoil my enjoyment of the rest of the performance. Sunderland perfectly embodies his character as created through Georgie Bailey’s excellent script which perfectly times the jumps between that Magaluf rooftop to a 50p offer on blackjacks and sherbet dib dabs. 

We are with Bazzer from start to finish. We interact with him; he looks us dead in the eye. We are taken back to the time we were kids and listened to terrible pop music. We think about whether we are able to fulfil our dreams. This is another excellent production from Chewboy, and I can’t wait to see what they do next. 

Written by Georgie Bailey

Golden Goose Theatre

Tuesday 7th – Friday 17th September 2021

Reviewer bio:

Jonny Kemp just about manages to find time to write and paint when he's not being an English teacher at a central London 6th form. He completed a module in playwriting as part of his MA Modern and Contemporary Fiction at the University of Westminster and was shortlisted for the WRaP 2020 playwriting competition from the London Playwrights Blog. He loves pubs and theatres, so pub theatres are a dream come true.