Theatre Review: Batman Live – World Arena Tour

How to describe Batman Live?

Well, it is what it is. A promise of a ‘spectacular’ is always going to be hard to meet, and although the show contains a heady mix of acrobatics, flying and projections, the action is swallowed up by the vast arena of The O2.

The story pads along along nicely but never seems particularly gripping or engaging. Batman’s various enemies decide they’ve had it up to here with his life-saving antics and decide – presumably via the evil networks of BBM or social media – to gang up and, you know, kill him. It’s never really explained why this hasn’t been attempted before, but it’s a handy device to shoehorn in all of our hero’s classics villains, headed up by angry clown The Joker (in wacky Jack Nicholson guise as opposed to creepy Heath Ledger mode).

We see Bruce Wayne’s self-transformation into crime fighter after witnessing his parents shot and killed, and how Batman meets frustrated orphaned trapeze artist Dick (cue much sniggering accompanying earnest requests to ‘Hurry up, Dick!’ and the like) and his transformation into Robin.

Before long, the crime-fighting duo are lured to a circus tent by the villains where various trapeze displays are interrupted by the Joker’s attempts to slice up our hero in a contraption called the Ultimate Death Machine (or something).

Luckily, all ends happily and the audience cheers when iconic poses from the comic books and film franchise are recreated, even when Batman’s triumphant flights are somewhat slow and the Batmobile moves back and forward on a fixed stage track. The projected scenery is impressive and harks back to the story’s comic book roots and the soundtrack is soaring, but the lengthy fight scenes seem stiff and the convoluted plot seems to be a confusing mega-mix of the superhero’s best bits.

Take the kids or the comic book geek in your life, or expect to be nonplussed.

Batman Live has already begun its UK tour; visit the official website for remaining dates and venues.