DRACULA

DRACULA

Early Doors Productions at Ingatestone Hall

31.10.13

Did Bram Stoker ever see Ingatestone Hall, on his way from Dublin to Golders Green [via Whitby] ?

His classic Gothic horror Dracula has been popular on stage for many years, but this site-specific production, using Liz Lochhead's free adaptation, must be one of the most unusual. And thankfully light on fangs and gore.

We sit in the long, narrow gallery, watching rapt as the simple staging, fluently directed by Amy Clayton, tells the chilling tale, moving swiftly from Carfax to London to Hungary and back again. A company including many of the very best local actors ensure an unforgettable encounter with Paul Sparrowham's Doctor Seward [Julie Salter his sluttish nurse], Justin Cartledge's innocent Harker, the deranged Renfield [excellently done by Darren Matthews], the powerful Carpathian Count himself [an imposing Lionel Bishop], Alan Thorley's vampire hunter, and three seductive succubi …

Clayton herself plays a great Florrie the Maid [not in the original], and the two sisters who are the object of Dracula's predations are played as very modern young ladies by Hayley Webber and Laura Newton.

Flickering candlelight, ancient panelling, solid furniture and the remote setting add an extra thrill to this inventive version of a familiar chiller – just the thing for Halloween.

and for Sardines

An ambitious Halloween choice for Early Doors Productions. Liz Lochhead's imaginative reworking of Bram Stoker's story, itself almost a classic now. And, well outside their studio theatre comfort zone, the atmospheric sixteenth century gallery of Ingatestone Hall. Is that a “Tudor chimney breast” ???

This rather wordy version is perhaps a little long for this venue, but it is well served by an excellent cast, working in a small acting area, lit by hundreds of candles and a few carefully placed lamps.

Central in every sense is the padded cell – a small cage in this production – inhabited by Renfield, one of the patients in the madhouse of Dr Seward [a powerful performance from Paul Sparrowham]. Impressively played by Darren Matthews, Renfield has some excellent speeches, raving and railing in “moon talk and baby babble”.

The Count himself is Lionel Bishop. Palpable stage presence, an aura of evil, and that hypnotic voice “library dust on every syllable”. His beautifully timed entrance stage right, his imposing figure framed in the doorway are typical of a meticulous, memorable performance. Innocent Jonty Harker, the lawyer lured to Dracula's lair by a property deal and then detained there, is Justin Cartledge; Alan Thorley brings gravitas and energy to the crucial vampire-slayer Van Helsing.

Lochhead makes Lucy and Mina sisters, and I might have expected her to make them more interesting as characters. But they are well played here, Hayley Webber as the playful teenager [excellent as a vampire, too] and Laura-Leigh Newton as the bride-to-be. It's the servants who get the best of it: Julie Salter as GriceSeward's nasty, feisty assistant in the asylum, and the show's director, Amy Clayton, superb as Florrie, the maidservant, another canny invention of Lochhead's.

The historic setting comes at a cost: not everything is audible, or visible – Renfield in his cage is a disembodied voice for most of the capacity audience.

But certainly worth it for the frisson of footsteps on the stone flags, the brush of the Count's heavy cloak, the ancestors staring in disbelief from the walls and those candles lighting the dark wooden panelling.

This is a nightmarish, often erotic, vision, dwelling on blood, blackness and bats, dreams and the immortal soul. The soundscape [the baying, screaming “children of the night”], and the music, enhance the atmosphere further.

And outside, in the gloom of the Hall's courtyard, nine tombstones, each engraved with the name of an actor and their part in the dark, demonic drama of Dracula.

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST

Early Doors

at Brentwood Theatre

01.02.12

The set is stylish and bold – white furniture, chequered floor, opaque plastic screens, nurses' station dominating from centre stage – and this Psychiatric Institution is peopled with the angry, the inadequate and the introverted.

The cast of assorted "loonies" was the great strength of Amy Clayton's production for Early Doors. Their characterization was impressively sustained, meticulously observed. Restless, short-fused Cheswick [Paul Sparrowham], halting, immature Billy [Gary Ball] fussy, delusional Martini [Martin Harris], tense, destructive Scanlon [Andy Gilett] all excellently done, as was William Wells' blustering Brit, who is deposed by the newcomer, but finally gets to wear his rebellious hat.

Justin Cartledge was the legendary McMurphy; not as charismatic or as boisterous as some, but an affable, reasonable guy, feigning psychosis for his own ends, a telling contrast with the tics and traumas of the institutionalised inmates. His dialogue with Ray Johnson's touchingly portrayed Chief, and their final moments together, were high points of the evening, quieter counterpoints to the big set-pieces like the football match and the party.

The Big Nurse, appalled by all McMurphy stands for, was Julie Salter, efficient, chilly and implacable. Of the other staff, I was struck in particular by Vernon Keeble Watson's vicious Aide.

A confident, polished ensemble piece, enhanced by video inserts for the ECT sequence, and by carefully chosen tracks from The Four Tops, Bowie, The Stones ...

THE 39 STEPS

THE 39 STEPS

Early Doors Productions at the Cramphorn Theatre

10.09.11

Patrick Barlow's ingenious stage version of the Hitchcock movie is established on the London tourist theatre scene. And now Early Doors in exile bring the whole mad-cap experience to the Cramphorn, selling out the three night run.

I think poor old Buchan would have liked Lionel Bishop's Hannay. Every inch the gentleman, a considerate, thoughtful secret agent, his political speech very much from the heart. Though he could send the story up with the best of them when he needed to – a glance, a pause, a double take. Wonderful stuff.

He had it easy, of course, just the one role. The other 150 characters were shared between Amy Clayton, who also directed, and the two Clowns, Justin Cartledge and Martin Harris. Lots of fun and physicality from them all, even if they were more comfortable in some characters than others – the Scots accents seemed to pose particular challenges.

Even with the technical limitations of this tiny space, we were treated to some splendid effects and routines – the lamp-post, the toy train, the hats trick.

It must be hard to achieve the required manic pace, energy and attack with only three nights in front of a live audience; firmer direction, and more music to cover scene changes and create atmosphere, might have lifted this enjoyable spoof from the ridiculous into the sublime.

NO SEX, PLEASE, WE'RE BRITISH !

Early Doors Productions at the Brentwood Theatre

05.02.11

How daring the title seemed back then, and how quaint it sounds now, when every Hotmail household can taste forbidden fruit …

A sell-out run for this shiny new production company, boasting some of the best talent around, tackling an iconic 70s stage hit. Very much a period piece now, with its limp double entendres, on the watershed between Whitehall farce and the Permissive Society.

The omens were good – nice programme with spoof ads, a lovely set with six doors, period wallpaper samples and a serving hatch with a mind of its own. Vintage radio on the soundtrack.

But the show itself didn't quite cut it. No bad performances, several good ones, but not quite slick, pacy and polished enough to be hilarious.

Martin Harris got closest to the period style with his fussy little Mr Runnicles, a constant delight. And Julie Salter managed a nicely elegant battle-axe as mother-in-law to the lovely Frances [Rachel Lane]. Gary Ball, though competent with the mechanics of farce, was hard to credit as a sub branch- manager in the 70s, or her son, or her husband. Ray Johnson was a suave Bromhead, and Justin Cartledge relished the trio of Inspector, vanman and Needham. Though it has to be said that he was behind most of the self-indulgent corpsing we saw on Saturday night.

Two scrubbers sent round by the Scandinavian Import Company were Amy Clayton, who also directed and designed, and Sarah Miles.

Lots of good ideas – the sofa trios, the doors – and a salutary reminder of those innocent days before video, when Dubonnet and stuffed olives were sophisticated, and we sniggered at “orgy” and “virginity”, “cucumber” and “Tupperware”.

Next on Early Doors' hitlist, The 39 Steps, with the legendary Lionel Bishop added to the roster. At the Cramphorn Chelmsford in September.