Charles II: Living Libido Loca
★★★★☆ Historical frivolity
PBH’s Free Fringe @ CC Blooms (Venue 171): Sun 3 – Sat 23 Aug 2025
Review by Orna Clarke
Charles II: Living Libido Loca from Old’n’Dead Productions at CC Blooms’ downstairs LAB is an hour of frivolous historical fun.
Beth Eltringham’s parody musical is the Restoration like you’ve never seen it before: a ridiculous retelling of the life of Charles II through song, dance and innuendo.
Finlay Allen storms the stage as Oliver Cromwell. Pic: Old’n’Dead Productions.
Finlay Allan storms the stage as Oliver Cromwell, ‘Lord protector’ (‘He protects us from the Lord!’ ‘That’s not what that means…’) and all-round party pooper.
After deriding audience members for having the audacity to wear makeup and bright clothing (‘Harlot!’ ‘Servant of Satan!’), he leads the first of the evening’s lyric-swapped pop covers, a beautifully on-the-nose take on Pet Shop Boys’ It’s a Sin. However, it is Eltringham who really steals the show during this number, backup-dancing with a brilliantly forlorn expression as Puritan Woman 1.
After a nod to some modern-day political debauchery, with a reference to Cromwell as a ‘PartyGate-keeper,’ it’s a rewrite of Panic! at the Disco’s I Write Sins Not Tragedies that heralds his end. Allan plays out his wonderfully dramatic death.
sleazy and endearing
The show’s title character, somehow played as sleazy and endearing all at once by Kyle Paton, makes an unexpected entrance; fresh from exile, the former ruler of Scotland delivers a few groan-worthy tree puns, and then an irresistible cover of Backstreet’s Back: ‘Are you all miserable? Yeah! / Charles is back, alright!’
What makes the hour work so well is the care Eltringham takes to embed historical accuracy within the absurdity, even down to Charles II being a Gemini (presumably never relevant in his lifetime, but true nonetheless) and the party-obsessed king’s shunning of important business. The latter is illustrated by his interruption of aide Edward Hyde (Allan) to express his desire to have a spaniel named after him.
A scene from Charles II: Living Libido Loca. Pic: Old’n’Dead Productions.
Colby Scott is charming as Catherine Braganza of Portugal, Charles II’s long-suffering wife, and especially entertaining when duetting Gotta Go My Own Wayfrom High School Musical entirely in ‘mimimis’ because her character doesn’t yet speak English (the song features this gem of a line from Charles: ‘I just don’t do monogamy, I hope you understand’).
The cast relish in foreshadowing forthcoming events (‘Surely nothing can go wrong in 1665?’ / ‘We’re getting along like a house on fire – like London in 1666′) before performing a hilarious parody of Allstars’ 2002 hit Things that Go Bump in the Night, marking the outbreak of The Plague (‘You cannot run, you cannot hide, you’ve gotta face it baby, Bubonic’s on the rise’).
interpretive dance
Then there’s a version of Alesha Keys’ Girl on Fire, complete with an interpretive dance from The Fire of London itself (Scott). A ludicrously funny fist fight ensues between Charles and the fire, before he arrogantly congratulates himself on tackling the two disasters.
A scene from Charles II: Living Libido Loca. Pic: Old’n’Dead Productions.
A scathing takedown of Charles’ reign by Scott and Eltringham – culminating in a fitting medieval rendition of Britney Spears’ Toxic – gives way to the arrival of France’s Louis XIV (Allan) in one last attempt to convince Charles to ditch ‘prostate-ism’ and ‘come out of the closet’ as Catholic. After a priceless on-stage costume change by Allan back into aide Edward Hyde, Charles finally meets his end.
Allan gives one last belter of a performance as Scotland itself, before the cast end the evening on a high, covering the song that gives the show its name.
Charles II is fun, sometimes educational, and always outrageous. It will surely surprise, delight and scandalise its audiences – in all the right ways.
Running time: One hour (no interval).
PBH’s Free Fringe @ CC Blooms (LAB), 23-24 Greenside Place EH1 3AA (Venue 171).
Sunday 3 – Saturday 23 August 2025.
Odd dates only: 5.30pm.
Tickets and details: Book here on EdFringe.com.
Facebook: @Old’n’Dead Productions
Instagram: @oldndeadproductions
TikTok: @oldndeadproductions
Charles II – he’s Living Libido Loca, baby. Pic: Old’n’Dead Productions.
ENDS
