We Will Rock You – A Cub Reporter's View

They Rocked the Hippodrome… But Did They Impress Our Youngest Critic?

By Emilia, aged 10 – Theatre4Everyone Cub Reporter

I've been to see quite a few shows at the theatre, mainly pantomimes, but this was my first time seeing a show by Darlington Operatic Society, and it was brilliant!

We Will Rock You uses the songs of Queen to tell the story of a group of rebels who want to escape (or should that be 'Break Free'?) from the controlling GlobalSoft.

The story is set in the future, where people aren't allowed to make their own music. They can only listen to what the government tells them, there's no live music and everything is online.

The hero, Galileo Figaro (Harrison Bateman), dreams song lyrics but doesn't know what they mean. He teams up with Scaramouche (Grace Mansfield), and together they join the rebels to try to find the source of live music and destroy the evil corporation.

There were lots of jokes about what they called 'old-style' music, things like rock 'n' roll, rap and even Gangnam Style. The rebels have taken their names from old music posters, so they don't actually know who the pop stars are, which is also very funny when the lead rebel calls himself Britney Spears (played by Ben Connor) and his partner is Ozzy Osbourne (played by Claire Wilmer).

I particularly liked Buddy (Leighton Taylor-Jones), who reminded me of the baddy Fagin from Oliver!, only much funnier.

I already knew a few Queen songs (Bohemian Rhapsody, Don't Stop Me Now and We Are the Champions), but now I am a Queen fan! I really liked Another One Bites the Dust, which the evil Killer Queen (Rhiannon Walker) sings when she is unhappy with her Commander (Julian Cound), but there weren't any songs that I didn't like.

The band was very good, although they were sometimes a little too loud and made it hard to hear the singers. The costumes and make-up were fantastic, too. The rebels all looked like different pop stars, while the guards were dressed in futuristic space uniforms.

Their dancing was very clever. Joanne Hand is the director and choreographer, and she has created some brilliant routines with lots of people on stage, all in perfect time. Sometimes there was so much happening that it was difficult to take it all in!

I would definitely recommend this show to my friends and to anyone who likes Queen, live music and really clever dancing.

The people at DOS deserved the standing ovation at the end, and everyone we were sitting with went home singing the songs. They'd clearly had a wonderful evening.

Thank you, DOS. It really was A Kind of Magic!

We Will Rock You runs at Darlington Hippodrome until 7 November 2026.

This review is part of Theatre4Everyone's Cub Reporter feature, giving younger theatre-goers the opportunity to share their own experiences of live performance.

Check out our 'Adult' review here - https://www.theatre4everyone.com/post/we-will-rock-you-darlington-operatic-society