Reviews
Stars out of five
G'day for the Sheilas, sport!
Ladies Down Under
Grange Players
Grange Playhouse, Walsall
****
AMANDA Whittington’s bitter-sweet comedy – more sweet than bitter, and splendidly drawn – finds Paul Viles’s production moving unflaggingly throughout, an achievement in which it is cleverly supported by its shorthand approach to its scenery.
There are
no cumbersome sets to be moved – just a succession of framed pictures,
painted by Francis Williams and displayed and taken away in matching
pairs which give just the necessary suggestion of a setting. Clever –
and it has the additional bonus of keeping us intrigued while we wonder
how many more will be revealed so expeditiously.
The play
is the sequel to Ladies’ Day, presented by the Players in March 2008,
and it finds the same four friends from a Hull fish-filleting factory –
only this time they are in Australia, intent on spending some of the
fortune that they won at Royal Ascot in the year that it was held in
York.
They are a
lively, likeable lot – though there is the occasional sigh prompted by
the loud, selfish and tarty behaviour to which Shelley (Kate Rock) is
prone. Yes, there’s a heart of gold underneath, but she is very good at
keeping us a bit on edge until it surfaces.
There is Jan (Rosemary Manjunath), who had been hoping to meet Joe, the boyfriend who has previously left England for a 12-month trip around Australia. It’s long odds against her catching up with him – Australia provides plenty of space for failing to find him – but it would be unkind to be surprised that she succeeds, because Joe (Gary Pritchard) has, like Jan, much to contribute to an engaging production.
The play
needs him. Moreover, there are other Pritchard faces that score points
for excellent effectiveness – notably as the aging hippy Charlie and as
the slinky drag queen Koala Bare.
David
Hayward also appears in various guises but it is his Bondi Bitch who
finds him sharing those amusing moments in outrageous hats and
glitter-sprinkled dresses as the twin in-your-face frontispieces of the
Mardi Gras carnival. It is a celebration that enables the shy, wildly
generous Linda (Aimée Hall) to come spiritedly out of the shell in which
she has hidden so appealingly for the rest of the women’s Antipodean
adventure.
It is Pearl (Sandra Haynes) who is the one with the secret – a secret she finally shares with unwavering dignity. This is a performance of stature and credibility, giving the necessary weight to a play that would otherwise have been in danger of being all froth and no substance – and that would have been a shame, given the spirited commitment it has been shown by everyone involved in it. To 20.3.10.
John Slim
Family sparkle under the spotlight
An
Inspector Calls
Netherton Arts Centre
*****
AN evening of excellent theatre finds five members of a family group made to question their philosophies and morals at the behest of a mysterious visitor.
The Theatre Guide does not
list it as one of J B Priestley’s time plays, but this is a story which
nevertheless leads us through the tragedy of a young woman’s death
before telling us that it did not happen until after five people had
admitted their share of responsibility – and that seems like something
to do with time.
The production, directed by Maurice
Felton and David Hutchins, leads us unerringly from the happiness of a
family party to the realisation that everyone there has in some way
contributed to the death – and that people are responding in different
ways. They are responses that range from that of Arthur Birling, former
Mayor of Brumley, who mainly foresees the imminent scandal as the end of
his hopes for a knighthood, to the anguish of his daughter Sheila, the
only one who actually faces up to the unpleasant reality.
Throughout, it has pace and passion.
John Lucock, as Birling, does some furious finger-pointing and rightly
fails to persuade us that we ought to be on his side. As his wife, Jenny
Pearson meets the inspector with careless abandon that is fortified by
her self-righteousness before she crumbles onto her knees in the face of
all the questions.
Sheila (Karen Whittingham) is the only
one who recognises reality. She does so in shrill indictments of the
others, coming at them from beneath a tsunami of a hairstyle, all mighty
rolling waves that hint at something unstoppable. And indeed, she does
tend to prevail in her various encounters – unlike her brother Eric
(James Silvers), the weak one of the family, prone to take refuge in the
bottle and liable to lash out only when goaded beyond endurance.
Tony Stamp is Gerald, Sheila’s fiancé,
who finds himself just as much involved as the rest of them, giving
Inspector Goole (Frank Martino) a nap hand of nervous, agitated suspects
to aggravate at will. This is a demanding role and an interesting
portrayal – courteous but confident, the voice raised to good effect
when it is deemed necessary.
Emily Woolman is Edna the maid, apt to
linger on the fringes of the excitement if she enters at an
inappropriate moment, and otherwise observed for much of the time
attentively performing her domestic duties beyond the sitting-room wall.
The production has important lighting
effects that interestingly add to the air of unreality in which
Priestley has dressed his play. So we see a succession of “suspects”
bathed in an arc of extra illumination as they define the various roles
that preceded the tragedy of a luckless young woman. It is an evening of
sterling worth, a credit to everyone contributing to it. To 13.3.10.
John
Slim
Gamma rays shine on young cast
Four Hall Green Youth Theatre members share the roles of the two daughters. On the left are Hannah Scothern (left) and Anna Garrett while on the right are Laura Coxson (left) and Roisin Keating.
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
Hall Green Little Theatre
***
I AM always uneasy when I approach a play with an outlandish, ridiculously long title. I can’t help wondering whether the author has so little faith in his work that he is relying on curiosity to fill the theatre.
This one received a bundle of awards in 1971 but is really only a study of a dysfunctional family headed by an unpleasant mother who is an embarrassment to one of her two daughters. This is the daughter who appears to drift in and out of sanity and gives a detailed account of boiling cats before skinning them. The other, eliciting considerable sympathy in a gentle, restrained performance by Anna Garrett, is the incipient scientist whose marigolds have been exposed to cobalt 60.
I am not sure whether the effect of the gamma rays was the one intended, but on the first night the marigolds had all come up as pinks. Or were they carnations?
FINER FEELINGS
Paul Zindel’s play is directed by Patrick Ryan, who has also designed the lighting and the sound for this studio production. It repeatedly inflicts long, monologue-like speeches on the mother – Christine Bland who, on the first night was occasionally overwhelmed by their demands despite coping admirably for the rest of the time and particularly displaying her requisite lack of finer feelings by referring to the unfortunate Nanny (Jennifer Llanes) as “that corpse.”
But this is a company that
gels well. Anna Garrett (Mathilda) is kindly and supportive towards her
mother; Hannah Scothern is the flamboyant, unpredictable Ruth, prone to
fits, exaggeration and lying. Both girls are confident in their
substantial contributions and are members of the Hall Green Youth
Theatre. They are sharing their roles during the week with Roisin
Keating and Laura Coxson. To 6.3.10.
John Slim
Box Office : 0121 707 1874 On-line booking
http://www.hglt.org.uk/
For One Night Only
Brownhills Theatre
* * * *
TWO long-serving members of Brownhills Musical Theatre Company
came together on Saturday for this one night show which had just about
the perfect mix of songs from the musicals.
Alison Room and Dave Hayward have performed in some of the country's top
theatres during the past 20 years, in amateur and pro-am shows, but this
was their first major event together on home territory.
The 324-seat Brownhills school theatre was packed as they sang with a
five-piece band, and their voices blended well, particularly in Last
Night of the World, from Miss Saigon, and You and I,
from Chess.
Hayward, a former Black Country school caretaker, also excelled with
Mr Cellophane from Chicago, while Room was superb with When
You're Good to Mama, from the same hit musical.
The pair were even more comfortable in the second half of the show,
Hayward impressive with Gethsemane (Jusus Christ Superstar) and
Room with Don't Rain on My Parade (Funny Girl).
Just one slight hiccup when musical director Ian Room's keyboard 'died'
as he was about to play The Man That Got Away (A Star Is Born),
but a few tweaks on cables and plugs quickly restored the sound.
Paul
Marston
Murder kills off the distractions
Highbury Theatre Centre, Sutton Coldfield
***
THIS Brian Clemens drama had me wondering where it was going for some considerable time. One puzzle was why that expensive-looking hat, put on top of the coat-stand before the interval, was still there when the second half of John Brenan’s studio production started, purporting to be five months later.
As it happened, we did actually receive an explanation, but it turned out to be an explanation of convenience for the plot, rather than one that made any sort of sense. And we knew it was five months later because the young Englishwoman who had been two months pregnant before the interval had reached the seven-month mark immediately afterwards.
The pre-nylon stockings were convincing, but I was worried when the wine glass that had contained the poison was simply emptied, rather than thoroughly swilled. I sensed the forces of law and order being given a rather obvious clue.
What was referred to as an oil lamp looked to me as if it was a lamp with a candle in it. And the radio, which had no obvious wires, visible batteries outside it or space for outsize valves inside although these would have been the order of the day in France in 1939, developed an intriguing habit of suddenly turning itself on – on one occasion to announce the German invasion of Poland.
As it was
France, we had the line that spoke of a pension with pretensions, with
the French boarding house pronounced to rhyme with its English
description, presumably at the direction of the author who must have
quite liked the effect achieved by converting it into something paid by
the government or a former employer – but it was a little odd. So was
the line, “This could be vital – a straw to be snatched at.” I could
imagine Dick Barton uttering it with feeling.
So there were first-night distractions – which made the company’s successful bid to present an enjoyable evening all the more admirable. The second half in particular proved persuasive enough to prompt tensions and uncertain tummy feelings, all the way through to the twist at the end.
FREQUENT CALLER
Malcolm Deathridge, playing the simple German Josef, is a frequent caller at the farm cottage of Peter and Suzy. I did not work out why his second visit found him in different trousers from what he had been wearing very shortly beforehand, but it was fun to try to guess what he would bring with him next time he arrived, once he had turned up at different times with a rifle, flowers and a spade. This is a sympathetic, sometimes amusing, portrait of a well-meaning simpleton unexpectedly involved in events beyond his comprehension, though his opening solo scene, in which he helped himself liberally to food and wine, goes on a bit too long.
Christian Lewis and Michaela Morris are strong as the central characters, unmarried but precociously a pre-war item – which means that she is saddled with the time-heavy line about being a scarlet woman. “If I were back in England, my friends and family would shun me.” She deserves her success – but must resist the urge to give that beautiful smile and special little wave in the direction of her special supporters at the end.
Christian Lewis is charged with the responsibility of keeping us uncertain about whether he is a goodie or a baddie. He meets it head-on, with a convincing towering rage a formidable part of his armoury.
Dan Payne and Marcelle Burnhope (Ross and Miriam) also give us plenty to ponder as the action moves to its climax.
Five pleasing performances make the production a winner. I knew all along that those distractions didn’t really matter – but having tuned in to them, it was hard to tune out. To 6-3-10.
John Slim
The Circle Players
Aldridge Youth Theatre
* * * *
TO tell the truth, Alex Howell gave a remarkable performance as serial fibber Billy Fisher in this amusing tale by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall directed by Helen Gilfoyle.
Alex almost had the audience believing his string of 'porkies' about amputations, a friend's mother being pregnant then having an abortion, a bereavement, and the reason for missing petty cash at work in the northern industrial town of Stradhoughton.
It was all so frustrating for Billy's long-suffering parents Geoffrey (Stan Hubbard) and Alice (Liz Daly) and grandma Florence (Freda Simpson) who addressed many of her sharp comments to the sideboard.
Undertaker’s clerk Billy even managed to have three girlfriends on the go and got engaged to a couple of them, the action really hotting up when leggy blonde Rita (Vicki Troman) burst in to demand her engagement ring back (from repair) while the other finacee, meek Barbara (Rebecca Lucas) looked on in amazement with the ring on her finger..
A strong performance, too, from Thom Handley as Billy's work colleague Arthur Crabtree. To 27-02-10.
*Alex Howell proposed on stage to his real life fiancee Beth in 2008 and they will marry in April. Now that's the truth.
Paul Marston
The Gondoliers
Walsall Gilbert & Sullivan Society
Brownhhills Community College
* * *
THIS production by Pamela Robinson and Karen Lyon is Brian Hirst's last one as musical director after many years - and it includes his wife Judith, daughters Kathryn James and Vicki Hardy, and grandchildren Daniel and Megan Hardy.
Steve Parrish and Ian Allen are gondoliers Marco and Giuseppe, with Letty Cheadle and Gillian Linwood Allen as Gianetta and Tessa.
Karen Lyon is in good voice as Casilda, with Bryan Till and Liz Ellison finding the laughs as the Duke and Duchess of Plaza-Toro.
To 20.2.20.
Paul Marston
Duo shine amid the dark menace
Gaslight
Swan Theatre Amateur Company
Swan Theatre, Worcester
*****
TWO bravura performances
dominate Brian J Burton’s fine production – as, indeed, they have to if
Patrick Hamilton’s classic thriller is to yield the tingling spines and
the anxious expectation that the script expects of its audiences.
The story is of two minds –
those of husband and wife – locked in battle. Not that it is a very even
contest: he is tall, confident, domineering; she is terrified, anxious
to please and not in fact looking for any kind of conflict. It is on
their relationship that the credibility of the play depends.
John Horton is the husband,
Manningham – fleetingly kind, only to shatter his wife’s hopes as he
furthers his scheme to drive her mad. He exploits dramatic differences
in his delivery, ranging from towering rage to whispers that carry their
own kind of alarm, as when he says, “The time has come to face facts.”
He speaks with a controlled authority, almost staccato, punching out his
sentences as if to defy anyone to stand up to them. When he is left
alone in the sitting room, he paces with unhurried strides of measured
and ominous authority.
In the context of a
situation in which he is able to give full rein to his intermittent and
frighteningly predictable fury, he presents an awesome prospect and it
is one against which his naturally submissive wife (Sue Smith) does not
have a hope of winning. She offers barely a glimmer of resistance in a
fine account of total despair which is deepened by the ritual
humiliation she suffers in front of a servant. This is a splendid
pairing, never for a moment giving cause to suspect that either of its
constituent parts might ever falter in fulfilling the weighty
responsibilities that surround them.
But while these two are the
linchpins of the production, Ian Mason provides vital, substantial and
unwavering support as the police inspector who arrives to reveal the
reason for Manningham’s frequent and unexplained disappearances and the
cause of the uncertain efficiency of the gaslights in the beautifully
appointed sitting room – full marks here to Brian J Burton and Andy
Hares. Here we have an inspector totally on top of a role which becomes
alarmingly wordy – though there is possibly cause for fleeting anxiety
during his confrontation with Manningham, given the significant
difference in their stature. We suspect that the hero who has turned up
as a knight in shining armour might find himself in some enduring
difficulty at crisis point.
From the servants’ quarters – this is a play whose Victorian setting has been updated to Edwardian – come Amber Bluck as the pert, coquettish maid, and Elizabeth Whitehouse as the anxious, loyal housekeeper. They provide the final touches that the production so demonstrably deserves. To 20.2.10
John Slim
Youngsters serve up a treat
The
gang in their red scarves who promise to do their best, do their duty
and . . .
Handsworth 2010 Gang Show
Crescent Theatre, Birmingham
***
IT is not necessarily only the people in a show who are put through the mill. As she made her way down the auditorium steps on the first night of this bubbling production, a young woman was overheard to voice her anxiety. “How do you think I feel? It’s my boyfriend who’s going to be dressed up as a woman!”
Well, yes, and I’m sure we sympathise – but one of the younger members of this splendid company had his problems, too, because his shorts, weighed down by the microphone that was clipped onto his waistband, were intent on trying to fall round his ankles in one of the energetic early production numbers. Frequent and possibly frantic tugs on the waistband just about managed to maintain equilibrium while he continued hopping about – presumably dismayed but clearly undeterred.
Otherwise, apart from one unexpected pause between scenes and less lighting at times than would have been ideal, everything moved efficiently and slickly, though there were problems with the sound at first, with even the full-blooded chorus of an incalculable number failing to make an impression above the band. I am not the most technical of men, but could this have been what prompted a second appeal to people to keep mobile phones switched off because some had been spotted in use before the interval and were interfering with the technical equipment?
JOYOUS MOMENTS
This is a show that brings credit to everyone involved. Its highlight is the series of extracts from Les Misérables, presented with power and feeling, but there are some joyous, if less ambitious moments, such as the Old Men Still Scouting sketch, the amusing line-up that proffers If I were not upon this stage and the raucously tearful drama of I want my Mommy, centring on a solid-looking citizen in a pale blue teddy bear suit.
Between times, two senior members of the company in overalls, one labelled Health and the other Safety, make an amusing show of trying to keep things tidy.
The tribute to musicals which begins the second half does impressive justice to a series of numbers from popular shows. Among them are All That Jazz and the dramatic confrontational scene from 42nd Street, and the juniors chip in lustily with Consider Yourself from Oliver!
Throughout, the musical accent is on chorus, rather than individual work, and it is accomplished with vigour, often with choreography that somehow accommodates a company that is 100-strong. It is a pleasure to see the happiness that it radiates– and I am sure I spotted at least two youngsters with a particularly promising future, whether they make the stage a profession or a hobby. To 20.2.10.
John Slim.
to entertain . . . riding along on the crest of a wave in the latest Handsworth Gang Show
Plenty
of paws for thought
Puss in Boots
Circle Light Opera Company
Sutton Coldfield Town Hall
***
A SIZEABLE and
spirited company meets its challenges head-on, but it is hard to convey
a spirit of fizz and fun when all those acreages of black curtain keep
taking the place of scenery.
Nevertheless, there is fun,
mainly from the hard-working Claire Harrison (Rose) and the partnership
of Lee Walker and Graham Halliday as Dick and Harry. And on the first
night there was an unexpected gale of laughter when the pillow that was
making Gormless (Callum Reynolds) the most misshapen character onstage
suddenly slipped down his back and onto the boards as he was making an
exit.
There is, moreover, not one
Puss but two. One of them is the loveable conventional cat on all-fours
(Jo Gardiner), apt to produce a piercing mew; the other a classy, sassy,
thigh-slapping miss (Zinia Leedham) who can talk as well as anybody and
is the closest ally of Tom (Kelly Fox), the hero of the proceedings –
whom, incidentally, we don’t get to see until we are 40 minutes into the
show.
There is also a sort of
hint of Puss-by-proxy in the form of Fairy Feline (Debbie Bloxham) –
whom I would have like to see waving her furry cat’s tail in a more
substantial confrontation with the evil Demon Voltaire (Bill Swaine).
Stephen Higgins is an
amiable Oddjob who on the first night struck up an unexpected
partnership with audience member Louise, sitting a few rows back and
generally receiving a special mention every time Oddjob came on the
scene. John Biddell’s Dame Doris often lacked the brash pushiness we
expect of panto dames, but this did emerge effectively when he was part
of a singing line-up – and, indeed, when, in splendid defiance of
strange health-and-safety anxieties, he was involved late-on in the
energetic toffee-hurling routine.
Mention of singing leads
naturally to Karl Eyre-Smith. We have to wait a long time to hear it,
but his King Desmond eventually reveals the finest voice on stage in his
partnership with Pat Plant’s Queen Desdemona. These are a splendid few
moments. Rachel Richards (Princess Pearl) can also sing pleasingly – but
she is a puzzle. In her first number, she defied convention in these
matters by not turning American – but later on there was just a touch of
the transatlantic in her tone.
Peter Osborne’s mincing
Major Domo, pink-garbed and armed with a tinkling bell, flits knowingly
in and out of the proceedings, and the chorus of villagers and goblins
comes pleasingly to the fore when summoned.
A lot of thought and effort has gone into Teresa Swaine’s production, and the saga of John Terry does not escape its notice. It’s just a shame about the scenery – and I hated that nose-picking-then-eat-it double act at the curtain-call. To 13.2.10.
John Slim
Alarm bells ring among the laughs
The Nonentities
Rose Theatre, Kidderminster
***
IT is a year or so since my previous encounter with Teechers and my memory is never going to win prizes, but I suspect that John Godber has permitted himself a few tweakings in the interim. Not that these have in any way modified the impact of Whitewall High School, Somewhere in England.
It is still the discipline-free establishment that I remember, with the addition this time that there’s a rude word on the blackboard and it isn’t spelled right. But I don’t recall any previous pupil doing cartwheels across the classroom floor – and doing them very well, with the surprising bonus of a commendation in the director’s programme notes on the grounds that the leggy young thing who achieves them is in fact a thirty-something.
Surprising? With all due respect, and whether it’s true or not, it seems unbelievable.
To my untutored gaze, none of the four rebellious girls looks particularly older than any of the others, and all of them – Charlotte Acton, Jodie Brittain, Dawn Scipio and Rebecca Williams – are eminently credible in their required age bracket. Belief in their portrayals, moreover, is strengthened because they do what 14-to-16-year-olds – boys and girls alike – do very much tend to do: very often, they gabble as if the object of the evening is to get it over as quickly as possible.
PELMET SKIRTS
Their intonations are right as well, with the occasional sentence being surprisingly delivered as if it is a question.
And, by jingo, they look right! Scarf-size ties loosely draped around their necks, and pelmet skirts with high-rise hemlines atop legs that seem to go on for ever. This is the picture of Young Britain that is unfailingly on show at home-time, five afternoons a week. It is alarmingly accurate.
What the rest of us are not customarily privileged to see is the inside of the classroom – and director Richard Taylor succeeds in providing an eye-opening beginning, encompassing many of our worst fears, before toning down the subsequent action.
Rob Broadhurst (Mr Nixon) elicits most of our sympathy in seeking to quell the inevitable rebellion and suffering a crush at the hands of one of his pupils at the end-of-term dance; and Matt Preece emerges likeably as Salty.
The evening is often amusing in its alarming way. And it’s alarming all the time because, for all the fun-filled froth, it carries the badge of truth. We’re afraid that this is what things are really like. A talented company makes us believe that this is the pitch that education has reached; that these are the young people who hold our future in their hands – and it is not a comfortable feeling. To 13.2.10.
John Slim
Puss in Boots
Fradley Players
Fradley Village Hall
****
A hugely enjoyable production written by local author and playwright Brian Asbury, who also plays villain “The Ogre” who terrorises his hapless sidekick, Igor, played by Jan Green.
Comedy duo Jack and Jock, husband and wife team Kevin and Sue Royal, provide good knockabout fun, and clearly enjoy themselves in the musical highlight, the “Ghostbusters” parody, “Toastbusters!”. An enthusiastic troupe of young dancers, including Matilda Makantonakis, Laura Heywood, Emily Keane, Bethany Wright and the angelic Maria Puchala – Verney, show their talents as townspeople, goblins ,and most memorably as cats, in the well staged, “Stray Cat Strut”, with lead cat, Tamara O’ Sullivan ,a delight as Puss.
The key figure in any Panto is the Principal Boy and Tina Skews shines as Harry ably supported by her love interest, Princess Rose, played by Anna Parry.
Jon Williams is an engagingly ebullient Dame, and Ruth Hawkins the perennially downtrodden Fairy Good.
The production is directed by Mary Bennett and Choreographed by Tina Skews.To 13-02-10
J King
Fellowship
Fellowship Players
Grange Playhouse,
NEIL Simon wrote
Plaza Suite
in 1968 and
California Suite
in 1976. By the time he came up with
London Suite
in 1994, he knew he was on perfectly safe ground in following
the same formula: place a succession of different couples in the same
hotel and make each couple the subject of a separate story.
Here, with deft direction by Dawn Vigurs
and delightfully measured contributions from her successive companies,
the four playlets stand excellently on their own, each of them offering
a glimpse of ongoing relationships and one of them –
Diana and Sidney – surprising
us by turning out not to be by any means as unmitigatedly hilarious as
its early exchanges have led us to expect. Neil Simon is good at packing
surprises.
The programme begins with
Settling Accounts, a meeting
between a writer, Brian, and Billy, the man to whom he owes money. Chris
Gardner and Chris Pomlett steer us with aplomb through an apparently
sticky situation, despite the early presence of a handgun.
Then there is
Going Home, featuring Sheila
Grew and Abi Quiney as mother and daughter – Mother being the
characterful one who is full of facial expressions to which her daughter
is prone to play a straight bat. Again, the relationship is beautifully
brought out – and on the first night, Mother also managed to come into
the room without apparently needing a key.
Diana and Sidney finds Sue Richardson and Gerry Joyce meeting for the first time after a
now-distant divorce – he picking his way carefully through the story he
felt obliged to tell and she the television star reacting with what he
must have found to be frightening firmness. Jill Simkin, as her
assistant, shares with her the deceptive froth of the early moments.
The
Man on the Floor brings the biggest cast – five – of the production and the biggest
laughs. Abi Quiney is here again, this time remarkably sparky as the
wife who is blaming her husband for losing their
The title of the piece is explained when
Mark is suddenly incapacitated by intense back pain – his yells leave us
in no doubt of his suffering – and is deftly rolled onto a blanket and
carried to a resting-place elsewhere on the carpet. The situation gets
further out of hand with the arrival of the Bellman (Colin Mears), whose
search for the tickets finds him wildly unpacking luggage in the bedroom
while mayhem continues in the sitting room. Dr McMerlin – who has
necessitated the very amusing reincarnation of the versatile Chris
Pomlett from Settling Accounts – arrives, full of matter-of-fact Irishness as he
takes charge of developments. Anne Chamberlain (Mrs Sitgood) further
gees up the action as a splendid evening gallops to its rib-tickling
climax.
All praise, too, to three members of the
company – Anne Chamberlain, Colin Mears and Jill Simkin – who have taken
charge of the props and particularly ensure that successive guests are
not greeted by the same unchanging flowers. To 13.2.10.
Train on the right track
Just good strangers: Ara Sotoudeh (Guy) and Oliver Harvey-Vallender (Bruno) build the tension along the rails
Strangers on a Train
Hall Green Little Theatre
****
CRAIG Warner’s version of the Patricia Highsmith novel makes compulsive watching in this production by Edward James Stokes. It is episodic, with lots of short scenes, but it benefits from the director’s clever set, which divides the stage into two and has an upper level as well as a high-rise staircase that invites us to imagine where it goes to.
It is referred to more than once early on as having 16 steps, although there are in fact just 13, with a need for another bit of imagination on the part of the audience. It is hard to see how another three could have been fitted in, and altering the script is a game that is never worth the candle – which means that a rather impressive construction becomes something of a distraction.
And this is a play in which you can’t afford to be distracted. The strangers of its title meet on a train and we rapidly discover that one of them hates his father and the other is not exactly enamoured of his wife. A double murder is more or less instantly on the cards, with each man assuming responsibility for despatching the blot on the other one’s domestic horizon – thus ensuring two perfect alibis and two apparently motiveless crimes.
It highly improbable and compulsively clever, with Ara Sotoudeh (Guy) and Oliver Harvey-Vallender (Bruno) putting not a foot wrong at the centre of the action. These are two excellent performances.
STRONG COMPANY
They are well supported by a strong company, although Edward Coley, as the undemonstrative detective, does rather leave the audience with detective work of its own in order to handle his very quiet unravelling of the dirty work he has been investigating.
Jean Wilde is in purposeful form as Bruno’s mother and Kate Campbell has her emotions put through the mincer as the newly-wed wife of Guy. Both meet their challenges head-on.
Tony O’Hagan and Sami Moghraby add effective weight to the cast in a production that is superbly supported by its choice of music and Patrick Ryan’s lighting design. To 6.2.10.
John Slim
An Enemy of the People
***
THIS Ibsen play, set in the 1880s, is the
story of a brave man's campaign to reveal the truth when the authorities
arrange a cover-up of the contamination of the water supply.
David Stonehouse gives an outstanding
performance as Dr Stockman in Chris Stanley’s studio production –
particularly when he launches an emotional attack on the people who are
accusing him of exaggerating the situation.
The schemers even include his pompous
brother Peter, the town's Mayor (Ian Parkes), and Mr Hovstad (John
Phillips), the local newspaper editor. An impressive contribution, too,
from Jenna James as the doctor's daughter,
Paul Marston
Cash is right on the money
Not what it seems?:
Duncan McLaurie (left),
Alison Broadley and Richard Rice-Grubb keep the
laughs rolling along in Highbury Theatre Centre's Cash on Delivery..
Cash on Delivery
Highbury Theatre Centre, Sutton Coldfield
****
HERE is a Michael Cooney farce that starts well and gets better. Neil Weedon’s production sets blithely about the business of ensuring that the complications become impossible to keep up with. They come forth and multiply. As time passes, they become saucier. They are a joy.
Eric Swan has been defrauding the benefits system for some time. His conscience comes into play – but so do a host of broad-brushed improbabilities, splendidly rushed into our awareness by a company that never falters.
So we become aware of a pseudo Tourettes Syndrome citizen who is apt to be naughty and of an offstage bedroom that has been fumigated against lassa fever; of people alleged to have fallen out of trees; of fictitious relationships, fictitious gout and false identities.
It is all packed in at a pace that is a credit to an unflagging cast. Richard Irons is Mr Jenkins, drawn into the maelstrom and finding refuge in a bottle of sherry, with foreseeable consequences – and doing extraordinarily well in his efforts to explain the situation to Ms Cowper (Alison Cahill), the formidable official who, like him, is from the Department of Social Security. Peter Molloy is Uncle George, who spends much of his time in his underpinnings, being taken for a corpse before being hidden in a window seat with echoes of Arsenic and Old Lace.
SPLENDIDLY LUGUBRIOUS
There is a splendidly lugubrious undertaker in John Glasgow, a doctor (Dave Douglas) who has a lovely line in bemused bafflement and responds without question every time he is told to sit down, a desperate blonde (Kirsten Farrell) who has surely cornered the market in entering with a scream, and Louise Mills, as another DSS official, who combines efficiency with desperation as the situation deteriorates.
And these are just the supporting cast, although just in no way does justice to their utterly committed involvement. At the heart of the matter is Duncan McLaurie as Eric Swan, the man who has been the bad boy of the benefits world. This is a sustained account of clever confrontation with the ever-present threat of exposure and the wrath of a wife (Alison Broadley) whose home has become full of the artful, the affronted and the allegedly dead. Hers is at times a firecracker of a performance as a character who is noisily and stroppily at a loss to understand what is going on.
Richard Rice-Grubb is a vital part of the central triumvirate as the lodger of Eric and Linda Swan. His high-spot is his entrance in a dress and a tempestuous blonde wig, but he brings an irresistible vigour at all times.
This is a bundle of fun. Go and find it. To 13.2.10.
John Slim
Simple tale of simple pleasures
Good-time girl finds a fan: Louise Fulwell and Bob
Graham get acquainted in
Rattle of a Simple Man.
Rattle of a Simple Man
The Nonentities,
****
HE is a middle-aged loner from
Northern England, short of confidence and seemingly likely to
lose £50 in a bet with the friend who was with him at the
football match in London if he does not manage to have sex
with the beautiful young woman he has met in a drinking club
She is cool, sophisticated, speaking of an
upbringing in a stately home in Hampshire; so cool, in fact,
that he reckons she could walk into Marks and Spencer and
shout Woolworths.
They are the unlikely pairing brought
together with very amusing, very touching, persuasiveness by
Charles Dyer in his 1962 play and beautifully achieved by Bob
Graham and Louise Fulwell in Martin Copland-Gray’s studio
production.
Percy is the wysiwyg: what you see is what
you get – a mill worker from Manchester who does a lot of
talking but loses his way because he says all his sentences
seem to end in dots; the simple soul who, we are told, has
come up the Thames on a pogo stick and who is embarrassed to
admit that he is a scoutmaster.
Cyrenne talks of family life with a butler
and a chauffeur, of a nodding acquaintance with the Queen Mary
and of a grandmother who was a French marchioness. She says
she gained an MA in three languages at
We see a developing warmth between them.
We see a falling-out that neither can bear. It is totally
engaging.
This is an encounter in which simple
honesty meets a lively, attractive imagination. In its
intimate setting, plentifully adorned with the landmarks of
its era, it works quite splendidly. There is a brief interlude
when Percy keeps getting to the door to leave the flat and
then turning round to make another point in a manner
reminiscent of Columbo, the down-at-heel television gumshoe of
almost the same era.
Stefan Austin arrives after the interval
and gives a good account as Cyrenne’s brother – but this is
essentially a tale of two people and it is a winner.
On the second night, there was an unscheduled moment when what purported to be a cut-glass jewellery bowl received unintentionally robust treatment and spent the rest of the evening with a broken lid. And its destruction was followed, quite remarkably, about a line about promising not to break anything. To 23.1.09.
John Slim
Spotlight Youth Productions
Brownhills Community College Theatre
****
IT may seem late - or is it early - to be staging a pantomime, but the 70-strong cast of youngsters deliver a show that is as bright as a button and bursting with new ideas.
This version of Aladdin was written by company member Andy Cox, and it is an all-singing, all-dancing panto with dazzling costumes made by parents and other Spotlight supporters
If there's a criticism it's the rather late finish, but the young cast - ages ranging from eight to 18 years old - are still going full blast at the final curtain, and their enthusiasm is infectious.
In line with tradition the panto is set in China, with the slight deviation that the characters all live in a village called Brownhills, with a gay Genie of the lamp played with a lovely sense of fun by Aarron Craddock.
Fallon Dyer warms to the role of Aladdin, forming an ideal partnership with Emma Clover (Yum Yum), and there is lively comedy from David Anderson (Wong Kee), while Andy Cox excels as Abanaza, the nasty who evenutally transforms into a goodie.
A terrific performance, too, from Mike Groves, playing the dame, Widow Twanky.
Directed by Sonia Cameron and Colin Coleman with Ian Windsor's musical direction and Karen Lyon's choreography, Aladdin runs to 23.01.10
Paul Marston
Aldridge Youth Theatre
* * *
THIS lively pantomime serves up plenty of magic and a big surprise when Bertha Blenkinsop from Brownhills turns up in the young cast!
Having hopped on the wrong ship she lands in Peking instead of the Isle of Wight, just in time to join Aladdin and his pals in conflict with the villainous Abanazar (Alexander Fisher).
Phebe Jackson is a real hoot as Bertha, particularly with her Black Country expressions like 'ger-off', and quickly strikes up a happy partnership with Aladdin's brother, Wishee Washee, played with a true sense of fun by Joseph Cryan.
The panto, specially written for the youth theatre by Neville Ellis, includes enjoyable music - played by Guy Rowlands (piano) and Raymond Vale (percussion) - good choreography created by Kate Rock, and colourful home made costumes.
Savannah Cook is an impressive Aladdin, with plenty of comedy provided by George Cook (Widow Twankey), George Caulton (Sgt Ping Lo), Tom Jaggar (Pong Hi), not forgetting David Caulton (Bonzo the dog).
Directed by Dexter Whitehead, the panto has further performances on January 14, 15, 16, 21, 22 and 23. It would benefit from a little trimming because a 10.25pm finish is much too late for some of the youngsters in the audience.
Paul Marston