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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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A gritty tale powerfully told
Brassed Off The Grange Players Grange Playhouse, Walsall ***** THIS stage version of the hugely
successful film is vividly presented by a talented cast, with
considerable help from members of the Derbyshire-based Newhall Brass
Band. Written and adapted by Paul Allen from Mark
Herman's screenplay, the story is laced with raw emotion as the
threatened closure of Grimley Colliery in North Yorkshire leads to
family problems, clashes between workmates and even an attempted
suicide. As the fight to save jobs goes on ('The Miners,
United, Will Never Be Defeated'), veteran bandmaster Danny, a former
miner with dodgy lungs, is just as determined to prevent his beloved
band folding and lead them to the final of a national competition. David Stone excels as Danny - a role brilliantly
played by Pete Postlethwaite in the movie - and his moving speech when
he rejects the coveted trophy won in the Royal Albert Hall leads to
quite a few damp eyes in the audience. There is a particularly moving scene in which the
colliery band, wearing helmets with lamps switched on, play 'Danny Boy'
at night outside the hospital where their ailing leader is recovering
from a severe attack. Dexter Whitehead (Danny's debt-troubled son,
Phil) gives a powerful performance throughout. His financial problems
cause a marriage breakdown, brought to a head when his worried wife,
Sandra, discovers he has splashed out on a second hand trombone while
she is struggling to feed the kids. Whitehead even gives a demonstration of his ball
juggling skills when, in a desperate search for cash, he becomes a
part-time clown to entertain local children!
Liz Webster impresses as Sandra, trying to cope
with three youngsters and visits from bailiffs, while Aimee Hall
provides the glamour as the flugel horn playing Gloria, seen by some of
the miners as a management spy when they discover she is really there to
carry out a feasibility study on the doomed pit on behalf of the Coal
Board - a project which turns out to be little more than a sham aimed at
appeasing people. At first the attractive young lady is welcomed by
the pitmen's band when they realise she is such a talented musician, and
love blossoms between her and former childhood sweetheart Andy (Joseph
Hicklin) who is unaware of her job with the Coal Board when she arrives
in her home town, flugel horn at the ready. Outstanding contributions, too, from Carl Horton
and Adrian Venables as tough-talking miners and band members Jim and
Harry, while Zoe Maisey and Chas Burnell are their loyal wives, Vera and
Rita. And how the first night audience warmed to the
performance of 13-year-old William Young, remarkably mature and
thoroughly convincing as schoolboy Shane, torn between his warring
parents Phil and Sandra, but full of character and optimism. For this play to really work there has to be real
musicians to support the miming actors, and the Newhall Brass Band tune
into the action perfectly, on and off stage. Some of the industrial language during exchanges
between the miners - and even wives - may not be music to everyone's
ears, but it's necessary to underpin the reality of the story in this
sell-out play produced and directed by Martin Groves. To 17.09.11 Paul Marston |
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