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Club nights and fading days
VINCE is an aging club singer who still
dreams of hitting the big time, Teena is a Polish karaoke enthusiast
with a voice that could just be Vince’s ticket to stardom. And it is into the glamourless world of run down
working men’s clubs, changing among beer crates, that Satin ‘n’ Steel
are launched in Amanda Whittingham’s bittersweet comedy from 2005. It is a mix of cabaret
and comedy in the world of chicken in a basket, with a side order of
pathos, rather than a musical although it is packed with the songs that
echo from the stages of clubs up and down the land, the anthems for
wannabe Sinatras and Streisands with songs such as
Daydream Believer, The Wind Beneath My Wings,
Don't Go Breaking My Heart, Time After Time, I Will Survive
and Johnny B Goode With Vince’s contacts and clubwise nous Satin ‘n’
The play but is it is the first production of
Roberts and John, a collaboration between Tom Roberts (Emmerdale,
Doctors, 2point4 Children) as Vince, and Kilke John (Crazy For You, A
Christmas Carol) as Teena. Kilke is an established musical theatre performer
in her native Holland, her father was well known Dutch composer John Van
Buren
Tom, who reviews for Behind The Arras, first
appeared in the two hander in 2007 in a Lichfield Garrick Rep production
- Tom is the Rep producer - but Whittingham has updated and
reworked the piece, with new references and some new songs specifically
for this new touring production, giving it her seal of approval when she
watched the final dress rehearsal.
The play previewed in Hull, appropriately enough
in a club setting, before heading off to Wakefield where it has been met
by good reviews validating Tom’s faith in the play He has been looking to perform the play again for
eight years but the opportunity has never arisen until now - and his own
production company with Kilke. He said: “As a first tour for two actors
it seemed the right kind of play. We wanted to be in it and it was the
right kind of play for us castingwise and agewise. It is the same sort
of difference between us and the characters, and cost was also a factor
in that we don’t have to pay other actors. “It sets well with Vince being hard bitten, a bit
faded who has been going round for a few years who sees this “These clubs do exist, no so much around London,
the Labour clubs, Legions and welfare clubs, the era of The Comedians
and Bernard Manning.” It is a world which might be shrinking, dying in
many areas but which still exists and even thrives in working class
stongholds although as Vince says in the play: ”Working men? There are
no working men any more, there is no work!”
With Satin ‘n’ Steel already on the road Roberts
and John are already looking at their next projects, with a shortlist of
possible plays and ongoing discussions on a co-production with
Birmingham and Midland theatres after revealing that the cost of staging
the first production has relied on the support and generosity of friends
and relatives. “We are going to do Satin ‘n’ Steel again in
autumn or next spring because we have the set and everything so we will
rerun that. After I think we would concentrate on the production side.
It is a lot doing both and you are not free to do other stuff. “Co-production is the way forward though and we
are looking into that. It has been a big learning curve, it is
fascinating and we are enjoying it.” The play is directed by Gareth Tudor Price,
former artistic director of Hull Trucking Company, who has directed Rep
productions at the Garrick with design by John Brooking, who like Tudor
Price has been involved in past Garrick Rep productions, while the
musical arrangements are by Greg Arrowsmith. The play tours goes to Cheltenham April 1and 2,
Scarborough , Middlesbrough, Helmsley, Barnsley, Richmond, Howden,
Beverley, Horsham, Durham, Briddlington and Chesterfield. It is at Lichfield Garrick on April 21-25 – its
longest run of the tour. Roger Clarke Tour details http://robertsandjohn.uk/productions/ |
Steel
rapidly move up the clubland circuit, romance blossoms and the future is
bright, but lurking beneath the surface is a dark secret which is set to
explode.
protégé as his passport to renewed fame, it’s a star is born setting up
t’North.