ALADDIN

ALADDIN

Pantoloons at the Braintree Arts Theatre

18.01.14

“Let's go home now, Olivia ...”

Well it was 4.45, and Olivia and her friends had several toddlers in tow.

What with a late start and the raffle, this panto ran close to three hours, a long time for tinies, even in the comparative comfort of Braintree Arts Theatre.

But young and old who stayed to the end enjoyed an old-fashioned community pantomime from this passionate company who've just celebrated thirty years on the boards.

For this, their fourth Aladdin, they've gone back to the original story, though there are of course topical quips, anachronisms and a stereotypical Scotsman, his impenetrable accent moderated by an ingenious Jock-ometer.

This character is beautifully played by Phil Osborn, founder member of the group, who's also written and directed the show, and painted the colourful set [a lovely giant clothes horse with fluorescent washing].

His script is studded with witty touches: the baddie, masquerading as Uncle Erasmus, is Graham Abanazer, with his wife Barbara, the Genies are streetwise, the Emperor [Liam Lawless] is named Penn Kwin.

Dan Winnington is an imposing ice-cream-loving evil genius [“Wicked Abanazer to you”] - his finest hour comes with the punning prop lamps; his terms of endearment for Mrs Abanazer [Jo Speed], though varied and inventive, need selling harder. Michelle Jesse is in the Ring, the East-Endery geezer Genie of the Lamp is Graeme Aldred.

Not one but two double acts – policemen Wiff and Waff [Nycckie Lowden and Emily Smith] and the likeable Hansel-and-Gretelish Hanky and Panky of Sue Stedman and Hana Younger.

Craig Douglas makes a cheeky, laddish Widow Twanky, gloriously bejazzled in purple – his Wishee Washee is Nic Hammond.

The two young lovers are fetchingly played by Rebecca Tyler and Clare Ryan. Clare manages to be both sexily elegant and a convincingly sulky, slothful teen – an ideal Principal Boy. Their Can't Buy Me Love duet, and their shared sandwich, a highlight of the show.

Loads of good musical ideas, from the bright opening chorus to the final Walk Down. The Marketplace number is excellent, although, as often, the unmiked chorus struggle to be heard over The Pitz [the three-piece band under MD Matthew Speed]. Some smart choreography, too [Emma Loring], especially the dancing finger lights.

Plenty of pyrotechnics, kiddie karaoke, hisses, boos and aahs, ice cream and cupcakes at half-time. But maybe a little too generous with the dialogue and the songs – most professional pantos are much shorter nowadays ...

SALAD DAYS

SALAD DAYS

Braintree Musical Society at Braintree Arts Theatre

06.06.13

Julian Slade's cosy little piece is a late-flowering British musical, a final taste of innocence before those rude boys Newley and Bart changed things for ever.

Rarely performed, recently revived in town, it is a charming reminder of those far-off days when "gay" meant "merry", flying saucers were new technology, and musical comedies were done without head mics. It has a creaky, dated plot, but a string of tuneful, catchy numbers.

Stephen Kenna's production for Braintree [who last staged it in 1979] has many strengths, not least the presence of the cast [graduating students, nightclub revellers] mingling with the audience.

Credible Oxbridge graduates from juvenile leads Tom Willis [Timothy] and Emma Loring [Jane] – he has a natural feel for the genre, singing, dancing, smiling, and she has a lovely voice, giving us a beautiful Sit In The Sun and a touching duet – We Said We Wouldn't Look Back.

Plenty of opportunity for character work, grasped with particular felicity by Andy Bryant as Uncle Zed and others, Michelle Jesse as the chanteuse Asphynxia, Anthea Kenna as Lady Raeburn, and Alex Bass as moustachioed civil servant Fosdyke and hooray henry Nigel, an amusingly believable peer, at least from the waist up, well matched by his ditsy Fiona [Claire Addis] …

Good ensemble work, too, in the involuntary dancing, and the breakfast trio. Elsewhere, some scenes overstay their welcome, even when they are as well done as the Beauty Parlour monologue.

The stage, made deeper by a generous apron, is well used in the big production numbers [Claire Addis the Dance Captain] with simple, adaptable scenery and a fetching little five-octave Minnie. But blacking out between almost all of the nineteen scenes does nothing to help the crew, and slows the impetus of the show.

A colourful, enjoyable revival of a charming classic, followed this autumn by a very different animal, the cult favourite Little Shop of Horrors.

FAWLTY TOWERS

FAWLTY TOWERS

The Seagull Rep at Braintree Arts Theatre

01.09.2012

for The Public Reviews

Sitcom's answer to the tribute bands, troupes of civil servants, dinner ladies, Slade inmates and Home Guard volunteers tour the country, performing live what fans already have on DVD at home.

And now here's that famous Torquay hotelier, out on the road for the third time, in three more classic episodes recreated by Lowestoft's enterprising Seagull Rep.

This is as ambitious as small-scale touring gets, with an impressive, and versatile, set – swing doors, kitchen, reception, dining room – fourteen actors and half of a real red Austin 1100.

The central quartet worked hard to capture the ethos of those iconic tv shows: Nick Murray Brown was Basil, with a nice line in stress, blank stares, suede shoes and manic panic. Even more true to the original was Agnes Lillis's "little nest of vipers" – hair, voice, delivery and body language all scarily accurate. A likeable, youthful Manuel from Will Isgrove, and a pert Polly from Alison Collinge.

These last were also charged with covering the inevitable scene changes: I liked Manuel's caption cards; the warm-up before the show was a good idea too, though surprisingly ineffective. There was a 70s dress competition [for the audience], of which Katie was a worthy winner in an uninspired field, and a surreal moment when Polly did a lightning sketch of the innocent Tim for a 50 pence fee.

Many of the other familiar characters, hotel regulars and casual visitors, were represented. Roger Lee was both the Major and the pickled Greek chef, and Alan Bolton scored a neat hat-trick as Mr Twitchen in Gourmet Night, one of the Germans, and, mostly amusingly, as fussy little Mr Hutchison in The Hotel Inspectors.

And Archie Jennings, touring for the first time in his young career, made the most of the brat Raymond.

These pieces are masterworks of farce. They're not going to be the same in a thinly populated multi-purpose venue as in a packed, warmed-up studio. Pace is crucial, and there were one or two soggy moments here, plus the unavoidable drag of scene changes. So each 30' episode ran about 45'.

Most successful, I thought, was the complex, and arguably deeper, Gourmet Night, despite the challenge of switching from car to kitchen to dining room. And we all loved seeing Basil finally losing it and taking it out on his defenceless motorcar.

Braintree Arts Theatre is a newish venue, with ambitious plans for the future. It's good to welcome a fresh destination on the Mid-Essex cultural map. The audience seemed delighted with their evening out; the man behind me was hoping that Open All Hours might be next for the tribute treatment. Now there's a thought – I'm pretty sure it's not been done ...

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews

Jim Hutchon caught up with the show at the Civic Theatre, Chelmsford:

This is the company’s third foray into the world of Basil Fawlty, and I couldn’t help feeling that it was one trip too often to the well. The production wasn’t really fully adapted from TV, and the three episodes – The Hotel Inspector, The Germans and The Gourmet Evening – stuck too slavishly to the TV version to work on stage.

Nick Murray-Brown was Basil, impersonating John Cleese. He started off at full demented volume and pace and never gave the script a chance to modulate. Agnes Lillis was Sybil, who played her part with more subtlety and depth. Alison Collinge was Polly who brought a lot more to her characterisation. Best was Will Isgrove, who really got into the Manuel character and also filled the over-long unforgiving minutes of scene changes with amusing audience interactions.

Each of the episodes relied mainly on the audience’s anticipation of the climax moments – the humiliation of the guest, the goose-stepping silly walk and the thrashing of the car. None of them really met the audience's expectations and were rather damp squibs.

A lot is expected of productions as widely known as these, but I got no buzz from the outgoing audience after this production.