![]() ![]() Writer Lee Hall never builds Marley up as a personality: he’s onstage almost constantly and seems like an affable chap who writes some remarkable songs, but the show never examines what makes him tick. But this is rattled through at far too much pace to really feel moving, or even formative. But it never really drills down into any of it. We first meet Marley as a youngster, sent away by his mother to stay with a strict aunt. ![]() It covers an enormous amount of ground, from Marley’s childhood to his death from cancer at the peak of his fame. Long established as a gifted musical performer – in leftfield works like ‘Been So Long’ and ‘Girl from the North Country’ – and having recently stormed the West End with his own brain-melting play ‘Misty’, ‘Get Up, Stand Up!’ sees Kene try his hand at something more mainsteam and pull it off with aplomb: he looks delighted to be here, and we’re delighted that he is.Īnd yet, despite his performance, and the unrelenting surge of energy that is Clint Dyer’s production, there’s ultimately something a bit lacking about ‘Get Up, Stand Up!’. But there is a molten core of joy and pride in performing this extraordinary music that is all Kene’s. Yes, he’s putting on the Jamaican patois, prodigiously dreadlocked wig, and several of Marley’s mannerisms - notably a delicately fluttering hand when making an earnest speech. Blessed with a megastar turn from Arinzé Kene and what is surely the loudest bass ever heard in the West End, ‘Get Up, Stand Up!’ is one heckuva Bob Marley tribute concert.Īnd that is underselling it: aside from a sound quality (and volume!) that most scrappy tribute bands could only dream of, Kene’s performance is genuinely towering stuff, a febrile mix of messianic charisma and puppyish charm that feels like it should be able to solve armed conflicts. ![]()
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