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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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Making a song and dance of it Oh, What a Lovely War!
The Arcadians
Crescent Theatre, Birmingham
**** OH, WHAT a lovely performance from The
Arcadians in their own tribute to the fallen in the so called war to end
all wars! A fine cast deliver all the poignancy, drama,
sadness and humour built into Joan Littlewood’s brilliant musical which
mocks so much of the hypocrisy surrounding World War I. Marking the centenary of the war’s outbreak, the
production works well on a fairly bare stage with grim black-and-white
photographs from the muddy trenches projected on a screen behind the
actors, and regular updates about thousands of lives lost for just a few
hundred yards of ground gained. The show opens in a light-hearted vein, with the
excellent Master of Ceremonies, Frank Foley, chatting up the audience
and cracking jokes before the real action starts on a Brighton beach
with a group of smartly dressed pierrots singing and dancing. They continue to appear in various scenes and in
numerous roles throughout the performance, responding to Chloe Turner’s
impressive choreography and the direction of Pam and James Garrington.
One of the highlights is provided by Kate Dyer
as, from a music hall stage, she lures recruits to the ranks with a
promise to ‘make a man’ of anyone who ‘takes the shilling’, to music
provided by MD Lauren Coles and her excellent band. Other memorable numbers from the period are sung
by Gabby Thompson, Michelle Burgess, Claire Vaughan, Sonya Williams and
Laura Peters, while the men in the chorus provide bundles of humorous
satire with other popular wartime songs, including If the Sergeant
steals Your Rum, Never Mind, Joe Soap’s Army and Hanging on the
Old Barbed Wire. There’s a wonderful scene, too, in which a group
of Irish soldiers turn up with their own version of a Michael Flatley
dance, and the famous scene where a group of Tommies leave the trenches
and enjoy a Christmas drink with German soldiers is well presented. Plenty of digs at the blustering, pompous top
brass who seem obsessed with numbers rather than the well-being of men
they are clearly sending to their death, and there is a powerful
performance from James Baldwin as Field Marshall Douglas Haig,
Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces. One of several emotional scenes comes with a
church parade near the battle front, ladies of the company perfectly
dressed as nurses while the troops add some of their own words to the
hymns. Overall, the Selly Oak based company can be proud
of their performance in marking the centenary of a shocking war, and the
lighting and sound effects are particularly good. Ironically a number of people in the first night
audience had wandered through Birmingham’s German market on the way to
this show, which runs to 22.11.14 Paul Marston
18-11-14 |
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