Denise Phillips as Joyce, Nick Whitehouse as Gordon, Rob Phillips as
Bernard and Kelly Tye as Margaret
Lockdown in Little Grimley
Highbury Theatre Centre
*****
Just when you thought it was safe to go
back in the theatre . . . along come Little Grimley Amateur Dramatic
Society.
For those unfamiliar with the work of the
company, its competence could not be assessed on the normal scale of 1
to ten for the simple reason such a scale only deals in positive
integers.
They are to amateur dramatics what Ann
Widdecombe is to ballet dancing and as for a production in lockdown . .
. an audience at 50 per cent capacity, socially distanced or not, would
be a considerable increase on their usual numbers.
Still, indefatigable troupers that they are, it
will, unfortunately, take more than a mere pandemic to keep them down,
as we can see from this latest chapter of their colourful history from
the pen of their chronicler, David Tristram.
Once more the society, membership four, sets out
to overcome adversity. (The smart money is on adversity, by the way . .
. just saying . . .) with society chairman, Gordon, announcing he was
going to write a play with a sure-fire selling point guaranteed to pack
bums on seats! Get ready for it . . . all the proceeds would go to the
NHS.
Now, to be honest, on Little Grimley's past
record, there is probably more chance of the NHS getting the £350
million a week promised on the infamous bus than any cash appearing from
a society that sees success as a production not losing as much as the
last one, but the thought is there.
So once more we are reunited with Gordon, played
with a droll, matter-of-factness by Nick Whitehouse. Gordon runs the
society with a fist of . . . well, lets just say he runs the society,
and he is always the leading man in any production. His selection is
from a somewhat limited pool of contenders as the only other man is
Bernard, played by Rob Phillips, and he prefers to play roles which are
on stage as little as possible, never being the ideal, and preferably
with no lines. He is a gruff, down to earth bloke, happy to call a spade
a spade, and has a penchant for toilet rolls.
It seems one of the main reasons Bernard is in
the society is to get away from his wife, unlike Rob, who finds his
wife, Denise, playing Joyce. Joyce is not one of nature’s most gifted
intellectuals, which she puts down to having dyslexia in one eye, but
she does seem to be somewhat expert on the size of mammalian genitalia .
. . everyone needs a hobby, I suppose.
She is quiet, hands out packs of banana cake at
the drop of a hat, and you suspect is never quite up to speed about what
is going on. She finds scripts a bit of a challenge, not just the words,
but the whole concept seems to tax her grey matter, and to describe her
acting as wooden would be an insult to every tree on earth – she also
seems to have a soft spot for Bernard - and a novel mask which
seems to be designed to stop the larger varieties of virus. It is a
lovely, stand-out performance from Denise.
Every leading man needs a leading lady, and the
diva in this case is Margaret, played by Kelly Tye. You suspect that she
sees herself as somewhat . . . well all right . . . she sees herself as
definitely way above the rest of the society in terms of her Thespian
abilities and probably much else - she even has a more upmarket,
designer mask. No matter what the production she
expects, nay, demands to be the star. Her soft spot for Bernard, by the
way, is where she would like to hit him. The two seems to enjoy sniping
at each other.
The result is a lovely, gloriously funny play -
and don't we all need a good laugh - with four characters who seemingly
have nothing more in common than being members of this woeful band. We
have the bickering, disparaging comments, snide remarks and, if you look
hard, a sort of underlying affection which becomes even more apparent
when the dramatic society is faced with a real drama.
The play was pencilled in for last December and
work started in September and then came Lockdown II.
Rob Phillips had rounded up the original
cast who had appeared in three of David Tristram’s Little Grimley plays
way back in 2007.
We remember their brilliant idea to combat
falling numbers on and off stage with sex, resulting in their salacious
Last Tango in Little Grimley, and sex also played its part in
their Christmas offering of Last Panto in Little Grimley and
who could forget, no matter who hard they tried, their attempt at an
award-winning musical to challenge a new rival amateur company in
The Fat Lady Sings in Little Grimley.
This latest in the saga is set in Lockdown I and
we have social distancing, checked with a tape measure, no touching, no
toilet rolls – remember the good old days of empty shelves – and
Tristram’s script manages to walk a fine line between out and out comedy
– apparently a Blue Whale is probably the only creature which could have
sex during lockdown – and making a point without resorting to preaching
about the devastating effect this pandemic, and the limited levels of
support, have had on theatre and the arts in general.
Rich Tye’s direction brought out the fun and a
poignant ending brought home the message. Theatre is stirring again. The
arts will have casualties, there will be inevitable losses, but it will
survive.
Finally, the other stars of this excellently
acted and produced show were the front of house staff. A one way system
was in operation, masks were worn, social distancing was well organised
in allocated seating and even leaving the theatre was well controlled.
The result was a friendly environment that left you feeling comfortable
and safe which is all you can ask in these dark days. Theatre is back.
To 03-07-21.
Roger Clarke
29-06-21
(Tickets are currently sold out)
Highbury
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