There are some shows you admire, some you enjoy, and some that simply lift you. BLOC productions’ We Will Rock You currently playing at the city centre theatre did the latter.

Ben Elton’s Jukebox musical, built around the music of Queen, imagines a future in which individuality has been flattened, musical instruments have disappeared and culture is increasingly controlled by technology.

Galileo and Scaramouche find themselves among the rebellious Bohemians, while Killer Queen and her Globalsoft regime attempt to keep everyone obediently in line.

It is big, colourful, fun and completely over the top in places and, rather unexpectedly in 2026, its computer-controlled world now feels considerably less far-fetched than it perhaps once did.

Under the direction of Lara Lawman, this production embraces that world completely.

From the opening moments, the stage is filled with screens, scrolling text and digital imagery with a definite Matrix feel, set against structures that reminded me of concert rigging or Glastonbury pylons. It establishes the world immediately: futuristic, slightly sinister and very clever.

There are more clever touches throughout. Messages and conversations appear on screens almost like teams calls; negative comments aimed at Scaramouche have the unmistakable feel of modern social-media trolling; interference disrupts the screens; lasers create cages; and faded images of musical icons appear as relics of a lost world.

Even the opening, with Freddie Mercury resplendent in that unmistakable yellow and white, immediately tells you that Queen’s legacy is going to be celebrated rather than simply used as a soundtrack.

The technical side deserves real credit too. Ryan Webster’s lighting design, Richard Gourlay’s sound design and Limelight Cinemas’ video design all helps create that futuristic world. The lighting is bold and constantly changing, the screens are used as part of the storytelling rather than just decoration, and the sound gives the music real impact without losing the vocals. It all feels very polished.

The production looks incredible. Lizzy Westney’s choreography, supported by assistant choreographer Emily Cook, gives the large ensemble real purpose and momentum.

The stage is frequently packed, but the movement is energetic, sharp and incredibly dynamic.

At its best, it feels as though the whole company is simply caught up in the music — and they quite clearly love being there.

The costumes added another layer of fun: at different points I found myself thinking Hi-de-Hi!, punk, glam rock, ninjas, The Matrix and even Bond villain. Somehow it all belongs in the same slightly bonkers universe.

The comedy runs right through the production and, importantly, it works. The comic timing is excellent, with laughs and sniggers coming regularly from around the auditorium.

Galileo’s habit of suddenly spouting familiar lyrics — from Yellow Submarine to Oops!... I Did It Again - gets a laugh every time.

Some of the references clearly went straight over the heads of the younger audience members, but that almost added to the fun. For the adults, there was always another little line or musical reference waiting to land.

At the centre are Jaryd Evans as Galileo and Zoë Garrod as Scaramouche.

Garrod was one of my two standouts of the evening. Scaramouche is visually set apart from the identikit girls around her from the outset — wild hair, fishnets, chunky boots and attitude — but Garrod gives her far more than a look.

She is funny, sharp and has a fabulous voice. Her scenes with Galileo are particularly good when the pair are bickering; in fact, I believed them more when they were at sixes and sevens with one another than I did in the more romantic moments.

Fortunately, that friction also gives us some of the funniest scenes of the night.

Their first big duet, Under Pressure, is where their chemistry really starts to come through — particularly in the way they play off one another.

My other standout was Emma Griffiths as Killer Queen.

Griffiths has fantastic stage presence. She doesn’t simply walk onto the stage — she owns it. Big hair, imposing costumes and that wonderfully over-the-top villain look certainly help, but the authority is all hers. Vocally she is superb, and when she appears in red leather surrounded by her dancers, she is quite something.

Nic Gibney’s Khashoggi was an unexpected highlight, bringing plenty of personality and just the right Bond-baddie feel. Bradley Lomond as Brit also impressed enormously; his stage presence and vocal confidence were so strong that my husband Geoff and I both felt he could have stepped into Galileo if needed. His chemistry with Em Lawrence’s Oz feels natural, and Lawrence has one of the most powerful voices of the evening.

Among all the big numbers, there are also a few quieter moments that really work.

The sequence remembering artists who died too young, leading into No-One But You (Only the Good Die Young), is a lovely change of pace. The names and images give it real poignancy, and Lawrence’s vocal makes it genuinely moving without the production trying too hard to tell us that it should be.

Alex Milner as Buddy brings warmth and plenty of laughs, while These Are the Days of Our Lives gives us another of those quieter moments. It is lovely —nostalgic, simple, affectionate and allowed to breathe.

Then there is the band.

Under musical director and conductor Kat Stevens, with Joshua Newport as assistant musical director and Keys 1, Claire Alsop on Keys 2, Jason Sidwell and James Kendrick on guitars, Ben Groenevelt on bass, Sam Felton on drums and Matt Thorpe on percussion, they are superb.

For much of the production they are so seamlessly integrated that you almost forget there is a live band behind everything you hear.

Then, in Act II, the musicians are finally revealed.

I actually said, “At last.”

And from that point they somehow become an entity in their own right. You can see exactly where all that sound has been coming from — and what a talented group of musicians they are. The guitars, drums, bass, keys and percussion give Queen’s music the punch it needs, but they never overwhelm the singers. It is a fine balance.

This is not a musical with a few Queen songs dropped into it. The music is absolutely at its centre, and once the band is revealed there are moments when the Hippodrome feels far closer to a rock gig than a traditional musical.

Musically, there are highlights everywhere.

I Want to Break Free earns huge applause. A Kind of Magic is colourful, energetic and brilliantly choreographed. One Vision is another big ensemble moment. Who Wants to Live Forever changes the mood completely. And by the time that unmistakable stomp of We Will Rock You begins, the audience is no longer simply watching - they are joining in.

That relationship with the audience starts early. Even before the main action, Killer Queen’s announcement gets responses from the auditorium, and the interaction continues throughout. At one point Oz and Brit have hands in the air across the theatre; later, the clapping falls naturally into that beat everyone knows.

By the finale, it feels increasingly like a Queen gig.

If I have one reservation, it is towards the end of Act I, when almost everybody and everything seems to arrive on stage at once. With the full ensemble, colour, movement, lighting and action, there are moments when it becomes almost too busy and starts to feel a little chaotic.

But it is also gloriously joyful.

Everyone appears to be having such fun that it is difficult not to get swept along with them. It is vibrant, noisy, colourful and perhaps a little mad — but by this point that feels entirely in keeping with the show.

At the end the Hippodrome rises. A rapturous standing ovation.

I knew this was an amateur theatre production, but with its scale, polish and performances, it genuinely felt like a fully professional show. The costumes look fabulous, the choreography is confident, the ensemble is full of life and the live band is outstanding.

And somewhere between the futuristic screens, the brilliantly timed comedy, the superb performances, Queen’s music filling the theatre and the sheer sense of fun coming from that stage, I stopped reviewing and simply got swept up in it.

 

Words: Julie Downing

Photos: Craig Fuller

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We Will Rock You plays until Saturday, August August 29. Running time 2hrs 25 mins, including 20-minute interval Age guidance: 8+. Online tickets from £15.60 here https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/bloc-presents-we-will-rock-you/bristol-hippodrome/