Hollywood meets amateur theatre as Jonathan
Richardson as Jefferson Steel surveys the Stratford Players with John
Whittell as Nigel, Joan Wall as Mary and Louise Price as Dorothy
A Bunch of Amateurs
Hall Green Little Theatre
****
Did you know there are 12 Stratfords in
the UK, give or take. Comes from the old English, Strat or street and
ford or river crossing, if you are interested. Mind you, for disciples
of Thespis, that's theatricals to you and I . . . or is that me . . .
there is only one, and that is upon-Avon, birthplace of the bard.
At least that was the somewhat limited view of
aging (less than gracefully) one time, (becoming rather more distant by
the day) Hollywood A lister Jefferson Steel, whose agent had fixed him
up with a job playing Lear at Stratford in a charity gig in the hope of
boosting his flagging popularity.
Jefferson, it seems, didn't know there were at
least a dozen Stratfords, he knew just one, the Shakespeare one, the
Avon, and that was about the limit of his Shakespearean knowledge as
well.
So, arriving in Stratford St somebody or other in
rural Suffolk, with its B&B and village hall and . . . well that's about
it . . . was a bit of a comedown for a megastar (past tense advisable)
used to being treated like royalty. Instead, he is in a B&B with no
minibar or en suite, appearing in a rundown village hall with an amateur
group who have to double up on parts because they don’t have enough
members and are threatened with closure as the council want to flog the
hall off to build execute homes.
In truth though, it might be unpaid, but it is
the only job available. He is unemployed and unemployable after his all
action, no substance, little script Ultimate Force film franchise was
cancelled after Ultimate Force IV turned out to be the ultimate turkey.
As for King Lear . . . Steel is faced with lots
of lines, 188 if you are counting, more than in the entire Ultimate
Force franchise and probably his entire career. Steel is not a
Shakespearean actor, even actor is pushing it, and Jonathan Richardson
does a fine job as the ego driven, bombastic, blowhard, aging, washed
up, ex-serial philandering and rapidly fading sex symbol. He even keeps
up a consistent American accent.
As for the Stratford Players . . . this comes a
little bit close to home for most amateur groups who can see their own
members lurking amid the characters.
There is Dorothy, the director, beautifully
played by Louise Price with a sort of sweet gloss hiding a steely centre.
She is the driving force striving to keep the hall, and the players,
going and meets every adversity head on. She is the real doer.
Then there is Mary, the landlady of the B&B and a
huge Steel fan played with a lovely star struck air by Joan Wall,
telling her hero . . . well fantasy really . . .how wonderful he was in
a whole range of films . . . none of which he was in. She seems to have
a sort of middle-aged schoolgirlish crush on the aging star, with a sort
of ill-advised jealousy that provides us with a later crisis.
Louise Price as Dorothy, Jonathan
Richardson as Jefferson Steel and
Summaya Iqbal as Jessica
Helpful to a tee is Denis given a nicely
portrayed hero worshippers enthusiasm by Jamie McNicol. He's the
plumber, handyman, always ready to help out character with a sort of
unbridled admiration for action man Steel. He's not the brightest and
Denis' acting ability is . . . well he knows his lines, so let's leave
it at that.
When it comes to acting, we have Nigel,
solicitor, commissioner for oaths, and the company's star performer in
his considered view, which is a very limited survey admittedly. He is
played, sweep of arms and toss of head, with suitable verbosity and
flamboyance by John Whittell. Nigel produces more ham than Ye Olde Oak
on overtime.
Emily Beaton is a lovely Lauren, who has the
unenviable job of being PR for the local brewery who are sponsoring both
the expenses of Steel and the struggling production. Her husband owns
the brewery and his main interest in Shakespeare and culture is limited
to how much beer he can sell in the interval.
She is a physiotherapist by trade which
completely innocently, before tongues start wagging, causes somewhat of
a stir in the red tops after rumours hit the editorial fan and, let's
say, put reputations into question . . . and headlines.
Finally, there is Jessica, Steel's daughter he
had with his . . . well his last wife, whatever number she was. He is
supposed to be looking after her while wife number whatever remarries
and goes on honeymoon. He forgot.
Jessica, played with a resigned air by Summaya
Iqbal, has no illusions about her father and what and who he is and is
unimpressed by his tough guy screen image, his real-life personality and
his acting, as in lack of, ability.
Just to add to his misery she knows the play far
better than he does and played Cordelia, the heroine, in a high school
production . . . no guesses as to where that is going, and Summaya in a
stage debut, showed enough to prove she could actually play the role for
real.
The play by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman cleverly
mirrors Shakespeare's Lear among the laughs and jokes. Steel's vanity
leaves him blind to his own flaws but faced with having to do real
acting, perhaps for the first time, he is vulnerable, and rumour leaves
him heading into madness and forced to confront his own relationships
especially with his daughter.
And Jessica is his Cordelia, open, honest and
left emotionally distant, creating the emotive anchor that mirrors Lear
while Dorothy and Mary, along with the pompous Nigel, are the foils to
Steel's egotistical madness, the loyal Kent and comic fool of Lear from
the first pair and the scheming Edmund from Nigel. While Denis and his
starstruck admiration brings Lear's fool's honesty through innocence to
bear, as he slowly becomes disillusioned with his own version of the
king, chipping away at Steel's shield of ego.
The run-down village hall becomes Steel's Heath,
Jessica his Cordelia, the rest of the cast his court. It all seems
heavy, but it's not. It is a glorious comedy with some sparkling lines,
and if you don't know Lear you will not see the similarities, just the
comedy and clashes between the cast members, especially Steel and Nigel,
both lacking the talent to match their star expectations. We even get a
shade of Shakespearean tragedy threatening to darken the ending!
And for anyone involved in amateur theatre . . .
the chances are you will know at least one and perhaps more of the
characters.
Directors Richard Scott and Louise Price have
kept up a cracking pace on a clever set with village hall and B&B side
by side so scenes could change instantly and seamlessly while the
excellent cast seem to be enjoying themselves, a sense of fun which
spread through the audience to provide a laugh out loud entertaining
evening.
Lear will be seeing the winds blow and crack your
cheeks to 27-09-25
Roger Clarke
19-09-25
HGLT
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