THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR – THE MUSICAL

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR – THE MUSICAL

CTW at The Old Court Theatre

08.12.17

Shakespeare’s problem comedy – a star vehicle for the fat rascal - seems to cry out for music; there’s a long roster of adaptations from Salieri to Sullivan, Verdi to Vaughan Williams. And only a few years ago the RSC did a musical version, not too successfully.

Peter Jeary’s take is a very different kettle of pickle herring. A juke box musical, with songs of the sixties to provide interludes and insights into plot and character.

The idea was prompted by the Whitehall farce, a genre both apposite and ripe for parody.

It all works disgracefully well, despite some challenges in the execution. Not hard to imagine this being suggested for a professional company of actor/musicians.

CTW fields a strong cast, who generally cope well with the sometimes conflicting demands of Shakespeare and the Sixties songbook.

Stock characters, many of them, from David Johnson’s Robertson Hare vicar to Bruce Thomson’s hilarious Gallic Caius. Sarah Bell – a char with hoover and drooping ciggie – is a fine Mistress Quickly. A lovely, dense Slender – parka and Brummagem – from Alexander Bloom; the young lovers are Charlotte Norburn and James Fletcher. But it’s old lust rather than young love centre stage here, with Dave Hawkes’ lubricious Falstaff, sporting some outrageous 60s military clobber, clumsily courting the two married ladies of the title. They are excellently done by Nikita Eve and Rachel Curran. Musically secure, with a real chemistry between them, they are particularly successful in letting Shakespeare speak, and making sure the Bard gets the laughs he’s written. Their husbands are Simon Hirst, giving a nice period performance as Page, and Tom Tull as the jealous Ford, making the most of his numbers, including a powerful Delilah.

Some songs work better than others. Ring of Fire fits perfectly for the fancy-dress fairies in the forest finale, with “marvellous night for a moondance” to set the scene. An ironic Look of Love opens the second half, Presley’s Suspicion is ingeniously staged, with three smoking lovers seducing Ford’s wife behind his back. And was that Wimoweh for the wives’ “confession” in dumb-show – brilliant !

The music - all of it live - is done by Nick Mayes – who also plays Slender’s servant Peter Simple. Some issues with balance between backing and vocals, and between dialogue and songs, meant that the unplugged pieces worked rather better in the context of the play.

The costumes and the set both very evocative of the period, though the set – split by a strange black hole in the centre – finds it hard to melt into the background.

Despite some dumbing down and desperate double entendres, this is a very enjoyable take on Shakespeare, all done in two hours. By the sing-along Everlasting Love line-up the audience will include some new converts to CTW and, we hope, to Shakespearean comedy.

ONE DAY WHEN WE WERE YOUNG

ONE DAY WHEN WE WERE YOUNG

Chelmsford Theatre Workshop at the Old Court

17.05.17

Nick Payne's two-hander allows us to eavesdrop on three brief encounters between Leonard and Violet, spanning six decades. Beginning in 1942 – an illicit night in the Hotel Regina before he goes unwillingly off to war – then 21 years later – a painfully awkward meeting in a Bath park – and finally in the 21^st century – in Leonard's lonely Luton home.

These are carefully drawn characters, ordinary people leading lives superficially banal but with emotional hinterlands they struggle to express. Laura Bradley and Lewis Schaefer give performances of exceptional subtlety and understated sentiment. They wisely avoid caricature as they age; Violet's chatter about washing machines and Wimpy Bars places her in the 60s in middle age, while Leonard's restless hands and lips movingly suggest the ailing octogenarian.

Ria Milton's production is near flawless, with sound and light, music [Isaac Dunn the talented cocktail pianist] and staging combining to excellent effect. The only criticism, the sight-lines, especially when the actors were sitting on the bed/bench/sofa.

And there's a bonus – a seamless prologue, with chorus dressed for the 40s, giving us a mixture of the tragically appropriate When One Has Lived A Long Time Alone by Galway Kinnell and some Shakespeare sonnets, Leonard's wartime gift to Violet. Some of the most effective being those audaciously delivered by two or three actors: Sonnet 36 as a duo or Sonnet 106 a la Andrews Sisters.
A wordless epilogue, too – the chorus leaves the stage, the audience leaves the auditorium, while Leonard and Violet linger with the book of sonnets and a lifetime not shared …



Production photograph: Tom Tull

COMPLEAT FEMALE STAGE BEAUTY

COMPLEAT FEMALE STAGE BEAUTY

CTW at the Old Court
28.06.16


To the Old Court, there to see a play in which theatre folk did portray their own kind.
The true history of the last of the boy actors, and of the first woman to appear on stage, told in nineteen tableaux, sometimes separated by gloomy silence, sometimes happily linked by Mags Layton's lively fiddle.
Mr Hart depicted one Ned Kynaston, Green Room hermaphrodite and famed Desdemona. Excellently done, with a most impressive presence. Spurned by his lover, reduced to capering before the coarse crowd at the Cock Pit, he finds salvation in tutoring his rival [strongly played by Mrs Barnes] in the art of dying.
Two superbly stage-struck women in the persons of Pretty Witty Nell [Miss Woodgate] and seamstress Maria [Miss Dunmore]. Mr Stemp gave us his Betterton, ornament of the London stage, Mr Piper a painted, lisping Sir Charles. The Merry Monarch was pleasingly personated by Mr Tree, besotted with his Nell, both of them charmingly cross-dressed for the Court theatricals.
Sam Pepys the scribbler, inseparable from his gigantic journal, was portrayed by Mr Powis.
Pretty panelling, a stylish painted park, mock marble columns and flickering candlelight mightily maintained the illusion of stage and town; thunder and birdsong were ingeniously produced, and at the close we had a bawdy catch to encourage our applause.
I left the theatre richer by one firm, ripe orange, and wiser in the ways of Restoration nobles, ladies, bawds and thespians.


for the Chelmsford Weekly News:

A colourful company, on a superb panelled stage set, to tell the story of Edward Kynaston, the Beauty of the title. He made his name playing Shakespeare's women, until that merry monarch Charles II decreed that only actresses should take on Juliet, Cleopatra, Desdemona and the rest.

CTW field an impressive cast: Philip John Hart as the androgynous Ned, Emily Barnes as his rival Mrs Hughes, Caroline Dunsmuir as his maid Maria, Kevin Stemp as his boss Betterton, Corinne Woodgate as a pert Nell Gwynn and, as the merry monarch, Mark Tree, who was also responsible for the décor. Not to mention Samuel Pepys, George Villiers, Charles Sedley, the violinist, Mistress Revel and many more.

An entertaining romp through Restoration London, sumptuously dressed and spectacularly directed by Christine Davidson.

If you missed it at the Old Court, it's travelling to the wonderfully atmospheric Ingatestone Hall, where it plays on the 20th, 21st and 22nd of July.
Tickets from www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres or call the Civic Box Office on 01245 606505.

and at Ingatestone, for the Brentwood Weekly News:

Van Dycks stare down as Chelmsford Theatre Workshop move into the panelled gallery of Ingatestone Hall to tell the story of Edward Kynaston, the Beauty of the title. He made his name playing Shakespeare's women, until that merry monarch Charles II decreed that only actresses should take on Juliet, Cleopatra, Desdemona and the rest.

CTW field an impressive cast: Philip John Hart as the androgynous Ned, Emily Barnes as his rival Mrs Hughes, Caroline Dunsmuir as his stage-struck maid Maria, Kevin Stemp as his bombastic boss Betterton, Corinne Woodgate as a pert Nell Gwynn and, as the merry monarch, Mark Tree. Not to mention Samuel Pepys, George Villiers, Charles Sedley, the violinist, Mistress Revel and many more.

An ideal setting for this entertaining romp through Restoration London, sumptuously dressed and spectacularly directed by Christine Davidson.

THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES

THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES

Chelmsford Theatre Workshop

at the Old Court

27.01.16

Eve Ensler's docu-drama is twenty years old now. The world has moved on, and inevitably the piece sounds a little dated in places.
But this revival, directed by Sally Ransom with Ria Milton and given a simple but sophisticated setting in the Old Court, brings out the best in these very varied testimonies; one of the most consistently accomplished productions at this address in recent years. Star cloths around the auditorium, coffee tables and bar stools for the three leading women, red lipstick, red lip cushions on the soft sofas where the supporting cast “relax” before and during the show...
Confident performances in the round from those three leads: Laura Bradley, Kelly McGibney, Caroline Dunsmuir.
They all get under the skin of these anonymous respondents who opened up to Ensler all those years ago – superbly characterized performances. Scathing about “marital therapy” and shaving, holding a mirror up to nature, crying with embarrassment in the women's workshop, poignantly recalling a flood down in the cellar and a Burt Reynolds recurring nightmare, finding heaven with a sapphic secretary, reclaiming the c-word with neat capital letters on the blackboard, giving up tax law for sex work as a moaning dominatrix – variations echoing from all corners of the auditorium – angry about floral perfumes, thongs and invasive medicals. There was much laughter, very little of it embarrassed, entertainment as well as empowerment. Darker moments, too, with the memories of Bosnian rape victims and the homeless.   
The linking passages – quick-fire answers to questions about scent and dress sense – are polished, and bring the audience gently in to the performance. As a prologue, chanteuse Alice Masters does a lovely cabaret set, climaxing with the Mooncup Love Your Vagina song. And there's a specially written piece by Jo Green, very much in the VM style, performed by Gemma Robinson, Anastasia Niamh and Helen Quigley. “He Told Me He Loved Me” highlights the familiar tragic disillusionment of women tricked into sex slavery. Raising awareness of global movement Stop the Traffik. Which we can also support before and after the show with bespoke cocktails, cupcakes and chocolate. Now that does sound like a girls' night out ...

VM selfie by Kelly McGibney; Alice Masters pic courtesy of Ria Milton

THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE

THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE

Chelmsford Theatre Workshop at The Old Court

28.10.2014

Cleverly placed for Halloween, this theatrical horror story successfully attracts those seeking thrills and chills in the Old Court stalls. There's spookily dim lighting in the foyer, and the auditorium is swathed in sombre gauze.

The play itself is adapted from Shirley Jackson's best-seller by F Andrew Leslie [though neither gets a credit in the programme]. Director Jacob Burtenshaw has thrown in a few twists of his own, too, sexing up the show with shocks and spectres, guignol and eerie laughter.

It's a weird story of “murder, scandal, insanity and suicide”: a “man of science”, addressed as “Doctor”, arrives at Hill House to investigate psychic phenomena, bringing three susceptible guests to help him. He begins by reading, deadpan, from his report, but soon starts talking such utter balderdash - “some houses are born bad” - that it's hard to imagine which seat of learning could have given him that PhD. Worse, his batty wife and her “friend”, headmaster of a prep school, turn up with their planchette to throw a spanner in the ghost-hunter's works.

CTW's production is redeemed by two things: excellent actors, and some really scary moments; as with last month's chiller, The Birds, it is the unseen which is most unsettling – terrifying knocking on the doors, an effective blend of live sound and recorded effects. I liked the use of torches to accentuate the darkness. The set, too, is nicely realised – the dolls, the crucifix, the doors and the oxblood leather sofa, which quite possibly has its own agent ...

Leading the cast, Joe Kennedy as Montague, and Laura Bradley giving a terrific performance as the shy, dowdy Eleanor, who is drawn into the aura of the house with tragic consequences.

Strong support from the others, notably Caroline Webb as the Housekeeper, stroking her keys with manic malevolence, Regan Tibbenham, a total contrast as the other girl in the house, and Britt Verstappen as Eleanor's spectral alter ego.

TRAVESTIES
Chelmsford Theatre Workshop at the Old Court
05.05.11

Stoppard's early piece - show-off fireworks and intellectual knockabout - imagines a meeting of minds in neutral Switzerland during the Great War.
This long-awaited revival, directed by Pete and Lois Jeary, sees Tristan Tzara en travesti,  James Joyce as a Limerick man on the scrounge,  cheese sandwiches and teacakes at the Consulate,  and a libidinous librarianess of Zurich.  Not to mention the Imprudence of Being ... not Ernest, the other one.

Jim Hutchon was at the opening night; this is his review for The Weekly News:

Co-directors Peter and Lois Jeary developed a strong narrative drive to bring together Tom Stoppard’s disjointed diatribe on politics, literature and modern art. In doing so they made sense of the piece and with many imaginative touches brought out much of its essential humour.

A senile diplomat Henry Carr (played by James Christie with impressive zest but not much comic timing) ‘remembers’ a vintage period in Zurich in WW1 where he befriended Lenin, James Joyce and the founder of the Dada modern art movement Tristan Tzara. Geoff Brown was suitably pompous as Lenin and Vikki Pead took on the self-important Tzara with appropriate intensity. Danny Segeth played a highly-convincing Joyce talking largely in limericks; in fact the funniest interchange of the evening was a 5-part dialogue in limericks, each finishing the others’ lines.

The text is shot through with allusions to Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, and in amongst the serious ‘man talk’, there are the delightful airheads from Ernest, Gwendolen and Cecily played with aplomb by Catherine Hitchens and Catherine Bailey respectively, and a fine studied cameo from Michael Gray as Bennett the butler. There are a number of in-jokes and references to Earnest and the politics of the early 20^th Century, but a knowledge of these is not necessary to get real enjoyment from the evening.

photograph of Henry Carr [James Christie] courtesy of James Sabbarton