A stellar performance from an all-singing, all-dancing cast of miscreants and their formidable opponents from the local neighbourhood watch, Asbo: the Musical is the story of Darren's attempt to shrug off his comfortable middle-class background in search of that ultimate accolate: the ASBO. Will his love for Jenny overcome his desperate search for street cred? Only time will tell.
As a love story Asbo! has nothing much new to say: boy goes in search of street cred. Bites off more than he can chew. Almost gets the girl. Picks the wrong moment to question his sexuality. Loses the girl. Penetrates, and escapes, a den of iniquity. Finds another girl. As a social commentary, what it comes down to is essentially that it's OK to behave a little bit badly, as long as you are pretty and middle-class.
My favourite aspects were, respectively: the Chavettes; the Chief, the camp and dapper head of the crime den who has a secret - he didn't earn his ASBOs, he ordered them off the Internet, and his tags are really from Claire's Accessories. And the moral of the story is: it is most definitely more fun to be a Chav. Though in the long-term it might be easier to be a little bit bourgois, what with real estate at the price it is these days.
