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Murky shades of comedy 51 Shades of Maggie Malvern Theatres
I WAS expecting raunchiness. I was
expecting colourful language. I guess had I read Leesa Harker’s
Belfast-set 50 Shades of Red White and
Blue I would have known exactly what I
was letting myself in for. This play is adapted from Harker’s first
novel, which itself started life as a parody blog of EL James’s
omnipresent Fifty Shades of Grey.
Director and Producer Martin Lynch acknowledges that some people will
regard this play as ‘crude and ignorant and ultimately demeaning to
women.’ He was right. It wasn’t the insatiable libido or brazen
character of East End heroine Maggie Muff (yes, really) that offended
some audience members, and I am not affronted by a bit of swearing, but
I found the absolute overkill of smut and the constant endeavour to
shock both boring and distasteful. I realise that this play is in one way meant as a bit of fun, but it
is also being painted as somehow empowering to women. Lynch talks about
the core of this play containing a ‘profound truth’. Perhaps I missed it. Maybe it was hidden in Mr Big’s Private Room of
Pain; maybe I overlooked it when Maggie Muff was giving us a flash of
the gash. I sound like a prude, I know that, and there were many in the
audience who clearly found the storyline and language hilarious. Fans of Harker’s writing will not be disappointed by her adaptation,
although I know many felt slightly hoodwinked by the promotional
material displaying a topless Mr Big alongside Maggie Muff. This was a
one woman show with no Mr Big to satisfy the women. You see? My mind has
been sullied already. So, plus points, because there were a couple: Adele Silva, probably
best known for her role in Emmerdale, did a brilliant job of bringing
the many different characters to life. As Maggie, she narrated her own
story whilst giving us vivid impressions of the other players in her
life – her mum, Big Sally-Ann, Mr Big, Mr Big’s parents . . .
Remembering the lines, recreating the accents, delivering both sides of
a conversation – Silva is a fine actress; I just felt the writing let
her down. Comedy lines about ‘getting my c*** kicked in’, ‘getting my
backdoor smashed in’ and ‘getting moist dreaming about Mr Big’s todger’
did not sit well with me. Jokes about date rape drugs and shagging fourteen year olds till
their mums appeared .. . . Well, I’d suggest to Lynch that this may well
be one of the reasons why people might describe the play as demeaning. But I was meant to be focussing on the positives. I liked the bed.
Maggie sits on, lies on, cavorts on, struts around a gigantic plush bed
as she talks, sometimes rotating it to face different directions to give
us an impression of different settings. I would like a bed like that. As
for other positives, I’m afraid I found none. Like 50 Shades of Grey, Harker’s 50 Shades of Red White and
Blue and its stage adaptation 51 Shades of Maggie seem to be
proving hugely popular. I don’t think I’ll ever understand why. For fans
of the novels, go and see this without delay. But if it’s subtlety or
sensitivity or eroticism you’re after, I’d recommend an evening of
Columbo and White Lightning. Just not with Big Sally-Ann. 51 Shades of Maggie runs at Malvern Theatres to 05-10-13
before moving on to Grimsby, Birmingham, Bromley, Woking and Richmond. Amy Rainbow
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