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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Writing a new chapter for Adrian The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Highbury Youth Theatre **** AT the risk of upsetting roughly half the
cast, one of the most striking things about this lively production was
the dancing. The girls were good but . . . the boys were better. While the girls gave us
Beyonce and Single Ladies
the boys blew them away with their
Gangnam Style routine where Oliver
Cave, who played Gavin, all Mohican hairstyle and attitude, really did
look the business. With him in the remarkable energetic routine were Alex Mungovan as Keith and Jonathan Talsma-James as the well-spoken Constantine as well as two of the stars of the show, Alex Ball as Barry Kent and Charlie Walter as the Postman bouncing away to the beat. Ball has that priceless commodity that cannot be
taught or learned – timing, which is a pre-requisite of comedy and this
show, written by Jack Crosby based on Sue Townsend's books, is
unashamedly comedy with the darker aspects of the books, such as Barry
being a bullying skinhead, or the break-up of the Mole's marriage, being
left for another day. Instead Barry is the Just William style
leader of a gang of misfits, with their ritual walk, serving a community
service sentence under George Mole, Adrian's dad, played by Kane
Blundell. George had the misfortune to actually look younger than Adrian
which gave a novel slant to their relationship. On the fringe of the dysfunctional Mole family
under mum Pauline, played with some style by birthday girl Helen
Denning, we had two of the real stars of the show. First there was
Queenie, played slowly, a little deafly and with her lines pretty much
all she could still remember by Eden Parke, who managed that shuffling
fragility of old age which only the old can recognise
Then there was Josh Higgs who stole the show as ancient old pensioner Bert Baxter. Like Alex Ball, Higgs has the gift of timing, knowing just when to chuck out a throwaway line for maximum effect. His "They make me pooh" line about Brussells sprouts held until the stage went black and the sketch ended was a classic example. And he managed to keep up the appearance of a decrepit OAP – limping with the same right leg, struggling to sit down or get up – throughout. It is not easy for youngsters to play old people but this decrepit old pair well deserved the applause when they creaked over for their bows at the end. Queenie, incidentally, once she had shuffled off
her mortal coil, returned, presumably as a ghost, to show a fair bit of
dancing skill in the finale. Back to dancing again and the show even had a
couple of solo dances which is brave in any youth production. Julio
Graham, one of the school boys, produced a dance full of power and charm
after the death of Queenie while an unnamed dancer performed in the
background while Pandora, Adrian's heart's desire, played by Natasha
Branson, sang Skyfall. The dancer was surely worth a mention in
the programme. Natasha's Skyfall, incidentally, was the pick of
the night's singing, she did it beautifully and there was a nice video
backdrop, Adele style with the words appearing and disappearing through
the mists. But Adrian Mole is all about Adrian and Christian
Blundell gave us a suitably, intense, humourless, nerdy Mole junior as
we followed him through 2012 in his diary when he even detects a little
maturity as he looks in the mirror. The show is episodic rather than a narrative
drama, very much a sketch show, strung together with Adrian and his
pursuit of Pandora and to a lesser extent drunken George and his lust
for good-time girl Doreen Slater, played with a suggestive flounce and
revealing top by Grace Bentley. As with any sketch show the result can be a bit
of a curate's egg, some sketches were clever, some funny, some were made
funny by the people in them while some were . . . less successful.
Niko Adilypour, who gave us the world's worst magician, also give us Andrew Mitchell MP and ex-chief whip, and a whole new explanation for Plebgate while Ian Rowe as teacher Mr Scrotum gave us a new look on the Nativity. Less successful was the Neil Armstrong sketch
which, considering the astronaut died last August, could be seen to be
bordering on bad taste and I could not work out why Charlie Walter's
Postman and the cleaner, played by Sarah Cotter burst into a Broadway
style New York, New York, all canes and sparkly bowlers, because
they had missed out on a school trip to London. Nice song, nicely done .
. . but why? But with sketch shows there is always another one
along in a minute. So the overall result was a fast moving show,
directed by Jane Mason, with scenes linked - and scene changes hidden -
by Adrian sitting on his bed at the side of the stage, making entries in
his diary while the cast, and indeed audience, seemed to be enjoying
every minute. The wonderful larger then life Ian Sandy, who
died last month, had a simple philosophy about youth theatre, and indeed
theatre in general. The Birmingham director, actor and producer
founded the BSS Showbiz performing arts school for youngsters which runs
on Saturday mornings at Birmingham Hippodrome and although he saw drama
and performing as a serious business, above all, his view was that youth
theatre had to be open to all and most important, it had to be fun.. He would have been delighted with this
performance from a group of enthusiastic youngsters. It was fun from
beginning to end. Roger Clarke |
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