HONK

HONK

Chelmsford Young Generation

at the Cramphorn Theatre

17.04.12

This charming, often witty, Stiles and Drewe musical retells the slight moral tale of The Ugly Duckling.

Jeremy Tustin's economical production, with Bryan Cass as MD, made the most of the intimacy of the Cramphorn, and coaxed fine performances from his actors, right down to the tiny brood of just-hatched ducklings.

We are introduced to the duck pond and its denizens by Drake, well sung by a personable Sam Toland; his missus, a no-nonsense Northern Ida, was superbly characterized by Sophie Walker, the only member of the cast really to bring her role to fully believable life. That's not to say there weren't other very polished performances, from Bart Lambert, say, as Ugly, the Just William victim who turns into a very suave swan indeed, or Luke Higgins' predatory tomcat. I also liked the domesticated duo of Jade Flack and Alice Masters, Harry Brown's Barnacles and James Bantock's Greylag.

Some lovely production numbers – everyone an amphibian in Warts and All, an airborne squadron for Wild Goose Chase – loving design [the ducks on the living room wall] and costumes imaginative and not too literal made for a lively, colourful entertainment, which was also a valuable lesson in living with difference.

TOUCHES OF SWEET HARMONY

TOUCHES OF SWEET HARMONY

The Stondon Singers

at St Laurence, Blackmore

21.04.12

Shakespeare's getting an extra boost from the Games this year, and for his birthday, the Stondon Singers presented a garland of song settings and sonnets, based around Vaughan Williams's Serenade to Music.

This much-loved tribute to Henry Wood was given here in a choral arrangement, though we did hear brief solos from within the choir, and Michael Frith's organ accompaniment was remarkably effective.

The Singers' conductor, Christopher Tinker, contributed three songs written especially for this occasion, including a witty but demanding "Sigh No More", a plaintive "summer's lease" and a haunting recollection of "wild thyme" to end. Other groups of three from Essex composer Armstrong Gibbs and Vaughan Williams again, the choir showing their mettle in his Three Shakespeare Songs, written as a test piece for a national competition.

This very enjoyable concert began with Purcell's Faerie Queen, and ended with George Shearing's delicious jazz settings, including the familiar Lover and His Lass from As You Like It.

We also heard spoken sonnets – three from the Bard, and one from our Poet Laureate: Anne Hathaway's thoughts on that second-best bed.

The bed we loved in was a spinning world
of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas
where we would dive for pearls. My lover's words
were shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses
on these lips; my body now a softer rhyme
to his, now echo, assonance; his touch
a verb dancing in the centre of a noun.
Some nights, I dreamed he'd written me, the bed
a page beneath his writer's hands. Romance
and drama played by touch, by scent, by taste.
In the other bed, the best, our guests dozed on,
dribbling their prose. My living laughing love -
I hold him in the casket of my widow's head
as he held me upon that next best bed.

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY

Rosemary Branch Theatre

at the Civic, Chelmsford

19.04.12

Helen Tennison's production is admirably stylish, with ecru drapes and muted beige and off-white frocks, and striking use of picture frames to focus our attention [designer Ellan Parry].

This two-hour version – first done for the much-missed SNAP – by Roger Parsley and Andy Graham focuses on the love lives of the Dashwood girls, losing much of the context and many of the characters along the way.

We're left with a largely frivolous rom-com, though fortunately the director's skill, and some fine performances, keep us entertained from funeral to weddings.

James Burton worked hard in the double role of boring Brandon and awkward Edward, and was endearing and amusing in both. The cad Willoughby, somewhat underpowered here, was Jason Eddy.

The monstrous Aunt Jennings – a gift of a role – was skilfully done by Lainey Shaw, with just the right blend of grotesque and generosity. The surviving Miss Steele, was nicely portrayed by Francesca Wilding, using her bonnet to excellent effect.

Emma Fenney's Elinor engaged our sympathy, but Bobbi O'Callaghan was too brash as her flighty sister, too loud [as her aunt might point out, it is not done to be heard in the street …].

But much pleasure was to be had from the linen line, the original music by Benedict Davies, and masterly stage effects like Marianne's fevered dream, her embracing the elements and falling into Willoughby's arms, and Edward's delicious discomfiture on finding his beloved en tête-à-tête with his betrothed.

VERNON GOD LITTLE

VERNON GOD LITTLE

The New Wolsey Young Company

at the Wolsey Theatre Studio, Ipswich

18.04.2012

Since winning the Booker in 2003, Pierre's dark comedy has been adapted at least twice as a theatre piece. This is the version done by Tanya Ronder for the Young Vic in 2007. Another challenging piece for Ipswich's enterprising young company – fourteen actors [age range 16 to 21], all of them involved in the music which is an integral part of the show.

Director Rob Salmon points out that gun massacres will always be topical, but this week's trial in Oslo reminds us that they are not confined to the USA – the play is set in the ironically named Texan town of Martirio. The central character, described by one critic as "Holden Caulfield on Ritalin" is thirteen in the novel.

Here, Joe Reed plays him 16 going on 17, an angry, aggresive presence, his name in lights behind the action, helpless as he finds himself framed for the High School Massacre and more.

The show begins with Jesus Navarro, the Mexican boy who flips and shoots his classmates, singing his theme song – Patsy Cline's Crazy. It's a powerful moment, and his shade is often present, bloody but unbowed, a merry spirit in Mexico, a tragic figure on Death Row, perched on the tech desk for the trial of his friend. Excellent, intense work from Jack Tricker.

Aidan Napier is the tv man, immoral and menacing, a well sustained, creepy performance. Television, reality and otherwise, is a constant in this redneck Jerry Springer world: Lally presents to camera, the lyrics of the Country Music are flashed up on the screen, which could usefully, and realistically, have been twice the size.

The young cast certainly enjoyed some of the more grotesque characters, with impressive performances from Steve Withers as, among others, an advocate with a shaky grasp of English and a Pastor, and from Jack Brett as the randy shrink Dr Goossens and Lally's blind mother.

Armonie Melville was strong as Taylor, the wasted girl who frames Vernon, and Keisha Banya brought his confused, needy Mom to frightening life.

The staging – the johns, the chairs on wheels – was ingenious, and the show was crackling with energy, with a wacky, cartoonish style which suited the story. A little more light and shade, a little less indistinct shouting, would have helped the audience follow the plot, especially in the wordy second act.

But the overall effect was infectiously enjoyable, the broad satire, the foul-mouthed fights, the moral message, the music and the manic acting adding up to a good night out for anyone, theatre-buffs or first-timers, fans of DBC Pierre or not ...

production photo: Mike Kwasniak

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews

SPITFIRE SOLO

SPITFIRE SOLO

Nicholas Collett Productions in association with perf@ect

at the New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich

12.04.2012

for The Public Reviews

Donington and Duxford, Bentwaters and Martlesham, random reminiscences in the bar before this fascinating one-man show. The Spitfires that Peter flew were based on the south coast, of course, and later at "Biggin-on-the-Bump".

This is his story, the memories equally random as he sits in his Eastbourne retirement home: wings on his armchair, his walking stick his joystick, the breakfast table his battlefield, with bread-and-butter bombs and a sauce-bottle Spitfire.

Nicholas Collett's finest hour includes not only history, but one man's life, with its triumphs and its tragedies. An introduction from a Frank Capra film, his first ever flight ["Sentimental Journey" on the soundtrack], his morning routine as a boy on the base, and now, turned eighty, in Silver Birches. He talks to the kids at St Oswald's Primary, and to the grand-daughter he never saw growing up. A host of ghosts people his memories: Alice, WAAF girl and wife, Alan Hart the Aussie private investigator, a pipe-puffing CO straight out of central casting, a bluntly honest oncologist. He's perceptive about Goering's great mistakes, and graphically conveys the reality of what it was like in that freezing cold cockpit, how it felt to bale out of a stricken plane.

He has created, in this understated but deeply felt performance, a memorable character. By no means a stock type – son of Skipton, straight-talking and movingly frank about fighting and killing for freedom. As he says at the start, this was not really a battle, but an act of defiance, and without that act of defiance, "where would you be now ?".

Good to see youngsters in the audience amongst the Spitfire buffs and those old enough to remember the dark days of the 1940s. One of the most telling effects was when remembrance merged into a memorial roll call of the friends who died in the Battle of Britain, young men whose lives were lost in the fight for freedom.

Peter's life, far from perfect, a success in trade, a failure as a father, living alone for 27 years, must stand for all the rest. And we can't help willing him to succeed as he takes one last flight across the world to Adelaide, in search of Amelia, his runaway daughter.

This is a developing piece – it has not always been a solo flight, for example – and it might be good to see a little more documentary footage, hear a little more music. And to explore some of the other characters, like Dorota his Polish care assistant.

But however it shapes up later in its travels, it is bound to remain an important piece of social history, and a privileged window into one pilot's private life.

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews