TWO FABULOUS REVIEWS OF OUR AWARD WINNING BUXTON FRINGE SHOW!
 

Darren, Trish & The Fascist Regime

"an immediate, and richly deserved, standing ovation"
reviewed by Ian Bowns (chair, Buxton Festival Fringe)
www.buxtonfringe.org.uk/reviews2025mus.html#3711

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Buxton Fringe audiences are used to seeing Darren Poyzer shows, as he’s been a regular performer since he started performing. He’s joined this year by Trisha Plant, and their new show partly came about to share how and why that came about, but no spoilers here. It’s also about their growing apprehension for our future, and their infectious optimism.

Darren’s songs are musically uncomplicated and readily accessible. These days, he largely finds a pretty catchy chorus, with a great turn of phrase – the elusive hook. I looked back a decade or so and found reviews referencing covers and some original songs – now it’s all originals for this show, barring the very final snippet. Given that Trisha has only been playing harmonica since earlier this year, her playing is musical and sensitive, with she and Darren matching dynamics nicely. Their banter is gently teasing and endearing.

Returning from a distant group of islands in 1982, an eighteen year old Darren wrote a poem, entitled ‘Aftermath’. In the last few weeks, an older Darren composed ‘Your War’, and performed it largely unaccompanied, with a short harmonica intro and outro from Trish. Arguably the most moving pieces in the show.

These were followed by ‘ A Baby Changes Everything’, ‘Keep Your Heart Sunny’ and ‘Manchester Window’. It’s his lyrics that are his secret weapon, moving, thought provoking and uplifting. Typical of that is the change in the refrain of ‘Keep Your Heart Sunny’ from ‘follow the money’ to ‘keep your heart sunny, my friend’.

Next came ‘Shout ‘em Down’, where he was joined by the young performers from Shadow Syndicate on the choruses. Shadow Syndicate return to the Fringe with their production of Dr Korczak’s Example, set in the Warsaw Ghetto of 1942. Darren and Trish’s show shares a message of tolerance and solidarity, in the face of hostility and violence. Hence the informal move from the show’s original title towards the unscripted ‘Darren, Trish and The Sound of Music’ (which also had something to say about intolerance).

They finished with ‘I Believe In You’ and a snippet of ‘The Sound of Music’, followed by an immediate, and richly deserved, standing ovation. They have a great rapport with the audience.

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Darren, Trish & The Fascist Regime

"We need to hear songs like these"
reviewed by Matt Hill
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Darren Poyzer has a way with a pithy truth - never give up on hope. A baby changes everything. Keep your heart sunny.
 

And whilst his songs are delivered with a light touch and a smile, don’t let that deceive you. There is serious and important content here.

Tonight me and Caroline went to see the Buxton Fringe debut of his new show Darren, Trish & The Fascist Regime. Over the course of an hour the couple sang songs made for our times. Songs sung in the shadow of an increasingly hostile environment. Hostile to immigrants,hostile to disabled people, hostile to humans.

An early highlight was Blood and Bone with its message that we are all immigrants, especially on an island as old as ours. The in between song chats and banter, are skilled and soon built a lovely rapport with the audience. For all his protestations that “we decided to scrap the script”, take it from this old pro, Darren knows what he’s doing!

We learn that Trisha has a debilitating health condition and Darren just wants to sing his songs. Their performing together is explained as a glorious compromise in the face of their conflicting needs. Yet it works perfectly. Trish is focused and deadpan, Darren is daft and spontaneous. A true double act in a long tradition.

For me one of the highlights was the juxtaposition of a poem Darren wrote aged 18, with a new song he wrote just last week. That poem was written when Darren was on a warship sailing back from the horrors of the Falklands war and sadly the poem has stood the test of time. The song that followed explored similar themes and was sung acappella to devastating effect.

Whilst much of the show was light and accessible, there was a serious message here about how human beings cope in the shadow of extremism, the shadow of war. The answer provided in this show - drawn straight from Darren & Trish’s personal life challenges - is that hope lies in each other, in our communities, in simple ideas like inclusivity, tolerance and mutual support.

It’s something Darren knows well from his work as a Community musician, from his many years as an arts promoter, and as an artist himself. In tough times it’s more important than ever that we gather in small rooms and share our stories. We need to testify.

The entire front row of tonight’s audience were a group of young people from the Shadow syndicate theatre group. They were in town to perform a play set in the Warsaw ghetto in 1942. So it was apt when Darren invited them up to provide a rousing choir on the song Wherever you see Fascists shout em down.

The final song was beautiful and touching, with Trish really shining with her newfound harmonica skills. The message was simple, even though it feels like we’re living in the end of times, I still believe in you. It earned them a standing ovation.

We need to hear songs like these. There are still two more shows left. If you can get over to Buxton, go see them.​