THE WORLD AT YOUR FEET

Alasdair Malloy with Sinfonia Viva

Civic Theatre

31.05.09

Maybe it lacked the pulling power of movie tie-ins like Harry Potter and the Pirates of the Caribbean, but this year's concert for children was packed with exotic sounds and far-flung fun and games. We even sang along with Summer Holiday !

Percussionist extraordinaire Alasdair Malloy, kilted for the first half, chatted and charmed his way into the hearts of the audience. The music began with Bizet's Farandole, done as a concerto for tabor, and ended with Offenbach's Galop; young fans invading the stage to dance along. We did the Macarena for Mozart, the hand jive for Handel.

Among the lesser known pieces in the dress-down second half were a charming Chinese folk song arrangement, featuring scene-setting solos from flute and harp, then a beautiful bassoon melody, and Adrian Johnson's evocative Outback Daybreak, with dijeridu introduction and jew's harp kangaroos.

There were visits to that increasingly attractive destination, the past: the Harry Lime theme played as in a Viennese Konditorei, with a lovely viola solo, and Puffin' Billy, used two generations ago to introduce very different Children's Favourites.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Cameo Players / Little Baddow Drama at Hylands House

29.05.09

If Mr Darcy rode over from Pemberley to Hylands, he'd find another “great park with natural beauty”, and another fine house “handsomely fitted up”, the estate of Mr and Mrs Cornelius  Kortwright. And if, on a fine summer's evening last week, he'd made his dripping wet way up from the lake to the portico, he'd have found a horde of ladies, patiently waiting to be shown into the magnificent Banqueting Room. 

 

Cameo's sumptuous version of Pride and Prejudice, directed by Jane Kyte-Hunt, brought a large and starry cast, splendidly attired, home to Hylands. How wonderful to walk out, not into the modest garden at Longbourn, but onto the imposing Repton landscape. The tiny performance area stood, with a few props and a little imagination, for Pemberley and the Parsonage, Netherfield and the Assembly Rooms. Linked by the economical narration of Miss Austen [Nicole Casey], we enjoyed a parade of bonnets and proposals of marriage.

Lindsay Lloyd was a believable Mrs Bennet, a bustling bundle of nerves, sharing her daughters' hopes and disappointments, and trying the patience of Ken Rolf's dry, crusty Mr Bennet.

 

His performance was a model of selfless stagecraft, drawing the eye with a glance, a gesture, the slightest movement.

Darcy was played, with nonchalant naturalism, by Lionel Bishop – an impressive presence in all his scenes, but notably with Tracy Hammond's poisonous Caroline, and  with Sara Thompson's outstanding Lizzy. 

Sara caught the fire, the fun and the fury of her character perfectly, I thought, especially when confronting Darcy or rejecting the all-too-physical advances of the oily, boorish William Collins [Robert Bastian].

The other eligible bachelors were Kenton Church's Wickham and Danny Segeth's Bingley.

No weak link among the twenty players – especially impressive were Victoria Costa's depth of feeling as Jane, Catherine Bailey's canny Charlotte and Patricia Lee's glorious outrage as Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

The gaggle of Bennet girls was completed by the bookish, sententious Mary [Jo Poole] and the giggly teenagers Kitty [Lauren Barnes] and Lydia [Sara Triplett-Jones], resplendent in her crimson going-away gown.

The Gardiners were played with aplomb by Paul Randall and Gill Peregrine, and toiling below stairs, Barbara Newton's Hill, heralding the many callers, with Sally Lowe her silent subordinate. Annette Michaels managed two striking vignettes, as Lady Lucas and the loquacious housekeeper of Pemberley, Mrs Reynolds.

The largely female audience loved every minute, especially perhaps the feelgood denouement, with rose-petal confetti and the Bennets triumphant. I did feel, however, that sometimes inner feelings, which surface politeness should have smothered, were made overly plain, and that seated conversations lost a little through being out of sight. Though as my neighbour pointed out, the diction was so clear, the language so polished, it really mattered very little …

COMEDY OF ERRORS

Shakespeare's Globe on the road

26.05.09

Trimmed to little more than two hours, plus interval, eight actor/musicians and a booth stage; this is rough magic.

Director Rebecca Gatward makes virtues of necessities, with the twins identical, and doubling galore. The front door scene is a classic of farce,  the doubled dénouement is brilliantly done, and I liked the way the costumes gradually grew more Elizabethan as the evening wore on.

The predominantly young cast bring energy and enthusiasm to the piece. Miltos Yerolemou is a cheeky Dromio, making the most of the physical comedy as the servant of two masters, played by Ronan Raftery in his first outing after RADA – a fresh-faced innocent Antipholus. Dana Gartland and Sara Ridway were the seductive sisters, and I liked Cornelius Booth as an amusingly arcane Dr Pinch.

They'll need their energy for the gruelling tour – it starts in Salisbury, to finish in Cambridge in late August. Norway and Malta, too, if your travels take you that far, but not Syracuse this year, I fear.

SING-ALONGA-HAIRSPRAY

at the Civic, Chelmsford

23.05.09

You'll have to take my word for it, but I'm writing this with a little pink pencil. Part of the goody bag for the Hairspray singalong. We also had cards, a scrap of sequinned fabric, also pink, and a party popper for the big climax.

It was very much a girls' afternoon out. Ladies of all ages booed, cheered, danced and sang to the film of the musical of the 1988 film, encouraged by a pink beehived hostess, who dished out prizes to the best dressed [and a can of Ultra Clutch to the hairdo of the day]. Many of us had seen the film, or possibly Michael Ball live, more than once. “Are you experts,” she wondered, “Or really sad people ?”. She took us through our paces for Nicest Kids, Welcome To The Sixties, I Can Hear The Bells, Good Morning Baltimore, and of course Can't Stop The Beat. “Be in the moment with them,” she urged.

This bizarre blend of naughty nostalgia, gentle satire and saccharine social comment has fewer costume opportunities than Sound of Music or Rocky Horror, but the preteens and the grannies were happy to march and cheer for freedom with Tracy, Penny, Link and the rest, and still had breath to sing to the birthday girls in the audience.

BOOM BANG A BANG
Chelmsford Theatre Workshop at the Old Court
22.05.09

How did you celebrate Norway's win in the Eurovision? If you had a few friends round for an ironic party, I hope it went better than Lee's, the subject of Jonathan Harvey's grim comedy. Jim Hutchon was at the Old Court ...

This is a rather 'bitty' play which starts at a gallop then fades into the remains of the day. Notionally about a group of ‘friends’ gathered for a night of watching the Eurovision Song Contest, it is really about making and breaking relationships. Director Joe Kennedy had his work cut out to make something meaningful of the play – which he did - with the sterling efforts of a dedicated and disciplined cast.

Alastair Robinson was strong and believable as the lynch pin grieving over the death of his lover Michael, while Steve Holding, as the neighbour, made his gay plays to all and sundry in a funny and touching performance. Joanna Gent and Catherine Bailey were positive and forceful as the women who got it together eventually. Ben Fraser acted the straight actor with conviction and David Woolford fooled his way through the play with some fine slapstick timing. Key to the action was the outrageously camp Robert Bastian flouncing his way through with a beautifully balanced mix of bravado and insecurity.

Though there were some lost laughter lines through gabbling, the mix of scouse and London accents held up well. The production succeeded in telling the story, though its habit of raising issues then not addressing them was irritating.