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Born in the shadow of Dusty
Me, Mum and Dusty Springfield Old Joint Stock
MARY is not exactly the son, or even the
daughter of a preacher man – more the result of a union between a
lecherous Tom Jones tribute act and a horizontally accommodating Dusty
Springfield impersonator. She is also Stephanie Ridings, the writer and
performer of this 50 minute monologue set among the second hand glitz of
second hand stars. The idea for the play came on a train journey
listening to Dusty Springfield's greatest hits when Stephanie was struck
with the melancholy themes of the lyrics and an idea was born. A mum who was a Dusty tribute act who had, like
the real star, a drink problem and who died young of breast cancer which
had been in remission and returned. Springfield, whose real name was Mary Isobel
Catherine Bernadette O'Brien, incidentally, was 59 when she died in
1999. Wisely Stepahie stayed well away from the real Dusty's sexuality
and her lesbian relationships and her diagnosis with b-polar disorder. This is not a play about Dusty but about a mother
who is obsessed with the singer and her daughter who as a schoolgirl
could come down to breakfast and find Tom Jones, usually, or any other
bloke from a range of imitation stars, already there sharing the
cornflakes. The monologue takes place after the funeral, with
mum in an urn, in the dressing room for a tribute concert where her
daughter is to sing dressed as Dusty, or at least her mum, after being
made to promise she would do it by her other as death closed in. She hates the idea and as she prepares we hear
snippets, some sad, some funny, of incidents in her life which has seen
a hard childhood with no friends and a mother seen as a slapper. It is all building up to that final song, the
tribute act to a tribute act and You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, a No
1 hit for Springfield in 1966. But, that was not the end. There was still a
twist. Even with her mother's death she had not escaped the life she had
been left by her mother. As she collected her bag and left she phoned
her boyfriend to collect her from the airport when her flight got into
Faliraki in Rhodes where they were living. Her boyfriend . . . he's an Enrique Iglesias
tribute act. It is a clever idea which has grown and been
refined since that train journey in 2009, which in turn led to a sell
out at the Edinburgh festival. The Sharon Foster produced tour ends at
the Atrix in Bromsgrove on 03-11-12. Roger Clarke And for an encore . . . *** IT was during an uneventful train journey in 2009
that author Stephanie Ridings had the inspiration to write this black
comedy. Listening to some of Dusty Springfield's
greatest hits she was affected by the melancholy lyrics, felt there must
be a play in there, and got to work. Now Stephanie is touring with the one-woman
show and also fills the role of a young woman reflecting on her
difficult life with a mother who is on the tribute circuit, playing
Dusty. Mum had a drink problem and then developed breast
cancer, just like the star, and the play is set after the funeral with
the daughter - having placed an urn containing ashes on her dressing
table - delivering a 55-minute resume of incidents, sad and amusing, in
the shadow of the famous singer. And there is an emotional high spot when
Stephanie pops on the false eye lashes, blonde wig and one of her mum's
full-length performance dresses and sings "You Don't Have to Say You
Love Me", at the funeral. This touching tale is directed by Chris Sudworth. To 02.11.12 Paul Marston
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