Review of The Stuff Of Legend: LIVE by ThetaSigmaEarChef
15 September 2024
This review contains spoilers
I was lucky enough to be at the first live event, and I had a spectacular time, so, 5/5! Spoilers ahead!
I immediately made friends with the person I was sat next to, and got to meet up with loads of TARDIS.guide people, so that was all wonderful! The lighting was superb, as were the sound effects, the dramatic gestures, and the general atmosphere. As an anniversary story it was exactly what you'd expect - Big Finish's big draws; their Master, their Doctor, their Doctor's first BF companion, and, of course, the Daleks. I very much enjoyed the exploration of Cornish folklore - it reminded me a little of 73 yards in that it explored myth and treated it as something that actually existed, not something that was sci-fi'ed away.
The careful balance of old monsters/characters/plot devices (the TCE and masked Master with a stupid translated name meaning 'Master' my beloved!!!) with the new genre (the recent fantastical leanings of BBC Who) was expertly crafted and immensely enjoyable. I also loved the sapphic crush, though wish we could have had a touch more on the side of thoschei romance - if you're making it gay and appealing to the classic fans, may as well go full throttle and make it heavy on the thoschei too - although I did enjoy the "Doctor has to rescue Master and he's all begrudging about it" thing.
I also felt like the non-main characters of Foley, the Captain, and the Innkeeper were well fleshed out and had strong personalities, making them immediately easy to connect with, and making me feel as strongly about them as any other character - not an easy thing to do, and so it was lovely seeing it done well.
The audience inclusion was another part of the show that really made it feel special - if you listen hard, you might just be able to hear my voice amongst the other thousand people pretending to drown!
It was gay and it genuinely taught me things, so of course I loved it! This is exactly what Who should be, if you ask me - a theatre full of trans people cheering as Alex MacQueen eats a biscuit and a one-off companion flirts with the Doctor's female companion. What a wonderful first experience of MacQueen's Master for me to have! If you have a chance, I highly reccomend going to see the last live performance today (not yet sold out!), or getting your hands on the live recording.