Holy show, Batman!

After three years of planning, 'Batman Live' – an extravagant arena show blending the much-loved comic book
with some modern fun and games – is finally on its way to Dublin. But can it really pack a punch for diehard
fans and casual viewers, asks TONY CLAYTON-LEA

'LOOK, DADDY, there's Batman." It isn't very often you hear something like that, unless you're watching a television show or a movie, but the little girl is right – it is indeed Batman. Oh, hold on, no, she's wrong – it isn't actually Batman, but rather a member of the audience, a grown man no less, dressed up as the caped crusader holding a carton of popcorn, trying to find his seat. Confused? (Splat!) Befuddled? (Kapow!) Puzzled? (Thwack!) There's no need to be. Welcome to Batman Live.

A few weeks ago, a large contingent of Irish media visited London's O2, in expectation of a show that has most critics tripping over themselves with superlatives. You can understand the excitement: more than three years in the planning, Batman Liveis (yes, really) unique: it's part classic DC comic book come to life, part Cirque du Soleiltrippiness, part illusion, part high-end design, part brilliant old-fashioned entertainment.

And there isn’t a song – duff, daft, dumb or otherwise – to be heard.

"Batman Live is an arena show, not a musical," says its technical director Jake Berry, a name you may recognise from his work as production director for the likes of U2, Rolling Stones, AC/DC and Tina Turner. " Spider-Manis a musical, set in a Broadway theatre. Some people might have the idea that they're similar shows, and that's natural – automatic, even – due to the comic book relationship. But that's wrong; we're two totally different shows."

The Batman Livestoryline focuses on Dick Grayson (aka Robin), a circus performer whose parents are killed because they refuse to hand over protection money to a racketeer. Grayson's quest for justice and revenge leads him to an association with millionaire guardian Bruce Wayne, who (spoiler alert? Surely not) leads a secret life as the caped crusader.

While the storyline sticks faithfully to the original comics, what’s hugely impressive here are the stage sets. Gotham City is laid out before you in detailed scale, the nightscape dotted with blimps, helicopters, sirens, high-rise buildings, low-rent villains; the set changes make exceptional illusory use of an adapting background (of particular note is the show’s closing Arkham Asylum sequence, which is more Marilyn Manson than anything else).

Another brilliant theatrical stroke is the use of original comic book art that flicks by in the background, whooshing the narrative along in a riot of bright colours and framing. No wonder the fanboys in their bat-insignia T-shirts are happy.

"We had to be as authentic and as well-researched as possible," says production designer Es Devlin, who has designed tours for many rock and pop acts, including Take That, Kanye West, Muse, Lady Gaga, Goldfrapp and Pet Shop Boys. "Although the show is for as wide an audience as we can get, it also has to work very much for the Batmancomic-book aficionado – they're people who take all of this very seriously. We did a lot of work on the buildings, for instance, and on getting Gotham City as right as possible by diligent research on the comic books."

WILL IT WORK FOR THEcasual observer, though? Devlin believes they will be drawn in by the super-saturated artwork and stage lighting (overseen by lighting designer Patrick Woodruffe, who is currently working on the lighting for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 Olympic Games).

“Patrick is a master of pure colour, so there’s that. But being able to turn things from two- to three-dimensional is a treat, and is something that, quite honestly, comes naturally to me. In many ways, it’s sculptural pop art that has a certain communality to it. I wanted to emphasise that because – and one doesn’t wish to sound evangelical – when you’re at a pop or a rock concert, you feel part of a congregation.”

Crucially, one of the things Devlin learned from working with the likes of Lady Gaga and Kanye West is that when you're at one of their concerts, so many fans – even if they're close to the stage – are looking at massive screens. "That's a real problem, as the energy from the audience is not always directed at the performer, and I think that's a loss. So with Batman Live, we made the really bold decision to not employ image magnification – you will not be able to look at a huge screen and see a close-up of an actor or a performer doing a scene. What this means in a theatrical sense is that the dialogue has to be kept sharp, and that each point of the story has to be really well demonstrated. That's a challenge."

Devlin and the Batman Liveteam appear to have succeeded. As if to create a snappy sense of storytelling, the acting sequences are fashioned in a hard-boiled, quasi-film noir style. Dialogue is clipped, to the point; characters are inevitably stereotypes, and never deviate from our recognised familiarity with them, but they're smartly delineated and are never given too much stage time for fear of getting in the way of the action.

Unfortunately, it is in the latter area that the show’s primary weaknesses appear. In its admirable attempts to appeal to a cross-generational (children to grandparents) and cross-cultural (casual fans and obsessives) audience, the action sequences lack the same level of innate dynamism that everything else in the show dutifully boasts.

While it’s possible that Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies have heightened our sense of expectation in this area, there is nonetheless a feeling that the “fight” scenes could have been grittier. Not to worry. There is enough swirling around in this particular Batmosphere to amuse and entertain all age groups. The show also avoids the rigmarole of post-modernism and arched-eyebrow irony, setting out its stall as a remarkable display of fun and games.

"You can compare it to Cirque du Soleil," Devlin says, "but the main difference is the primacy of the narrative. With the Cirque shows, you get a sense of being in a world, but there isn't a story, a narrative, and there never is. But there is one in Batman Live. So there is no template for a show like this – it really hasn't been done before."

Batman Live

visits the O2 Dublin from September 28th to October 1st and the Odyssey Arena, Belfast from October 5th to 8th. See batmanlive.com