NEVILLE'S ISLAND

NEVILLE'S ISLAND

Ingatestone and Fryerning Dramatic Club

24.05.13

We're all having to work longer these days – I bet some of these middle managers would rather look forward to a gold watch than a "Business Outbound" bonding weekend on Derwentwater.

Tim Firth's "comedy in thick fog" has moved with the times, I see. But even a state-of-the-art Blackberry with GPS is little use once the last battery bar has faded.

Mark Godfrey's production for Ingatestone and Fryerning boasts a well cast quartet of castaways: Tony Szalai is the annoying know-it-all Neville, Martin Reynolds the insensitive Gordon, sarcastic and negative, Duncan Hopgood Angus, in his camouflage gear, with most of the stock of the survival shop stuffed into his backpack. And Roy Hobson is the god-bothering birdwatcher whose superb treetop soliloquies are a hint of the weird ending to come.

"Office sociology – Lord of the Flies" – neatly sums up the theme, as 21^st century values are abandoned and figurative fridges are cleaned out.

On the broad stage – shame not to share Rampsholme Island in the round – we have rocks, water and an impressive tree stage right. Some of the set pieces work very well – the sausage sequence, the distant disco boat – others, maybe through hesitancy or insecurity, less so, like Gordon's attack on Roy's religion.

But, from Bilk to Verdi, a telling blend of lighter and darker moments, with the four orienteers giving their all for the team on this muddy, bloody fight for survival.

MACBETH IN PITCH BLACK

MACBETH IN PITCH BLACK

London Contemporary Theatre at Brentwood Theatre

24.05.13

The Scottish play for voices in the darkness ?

A commendably innovative, if not always convincing, take on Macbeth from London Contemporary, no strangers to radio. An hour and a quarter, the gloom pierced only by the emergency exit lights, with raw ambition and bloody murder going on in the darkness around us.

Kevin Williams' production has no shortage of inventive ideas – there are smartphones and iPods in this medieval realm – the feast, and the sleepwalk, both have faintly glowing red balloons, the dagger before him is just a line of light. The porter is heard only on the entry-phone; Birnam's moving grove is signalled over the battlefield radio set.

Occasionally the shadowy forms become clearer; candles, a brazier, a cigarette lighter draw the eye. The clearest face is Banquo's [Craig Morgan] as he returns to haunt his murderer. The prophecies are projected onto Macbeth's naked torso.

The voice which consistently compels our attention is that of the Thane himself, played with an impressive range of vocal expression by Noel Harron. Shakespeare's text, considerably abridged, is embroidered by bells, screams, cackles, thunder and ominous footsteps.

Macbeth in Pitch Black is directed by Kevin Williams, composed by Philip Ryder and designed by Jonathan Ashby-Rock.

THE HISTORY BOYS

THE HISTORY BOYS

at Colchester Mercury

23.05.13

The sixth show of the Made In Colchester season, and it's a superbly realised production of Alan Bennett's unlikely hit of 2004.

That improbable Sheffield Grammar now has an improbable Latin song, though the backdrop photograph suggests an institution founded, like the real King Ted's, in 1905.

Ignatius Anthony is entirely believable as the geographer from Hull, the Head obsessed with league tables and scholarships, who twice savagely dismisses art, literature, history and other such silliness. Mind you, he clearly has staffing problems.

Mrs Lintott [Liza Sadovy] is a traditionalist, thorough but dull, prone to cynical outbursts. The callow supply teacher he drafts in to help coach the Oxbridge hopefuls of the title is keen but woefully inexperienced. And law-unto-himself Hector is a liability, his lessons "not curriculum-directed at all …".

As young Irwin, Freddie Machin catches the social ineptitude behind the academic carapace. He is less convincing, perhaps, later in life, as the spin doctor or the TV historian, based, it is surmised, on Niall Ferguson.

Stephen Ley's Hector is a shambling figure, given to florid histrionics, but clearly a much-loved inspiration to the boys, despite his lack of focus and his predatory fumblings. The subtext, as elsewhere, is elegantly suggested: his Drummer Hodge dialogue with Posner, a hand proffered and almost taken, suggests a deeper "diffidence or shyness" [The Mikado, as Hector might have pointed out in different circumstances]. His numbness when arraigned by Armstrong is deeply moving.

Daniel Buckroyd's staging has no pounding Eighties score, no fancy filmed inserts. Instead we have Scripps vamping till ready, and just the two slides: the school and Rievaulx. Buckroyd himself plays the Director in the film, though as a voice off. There is a simple revolve, smoothly revealing the classroom, its walls distressed with names from desktops, and, as necessary, the Head's study, the staffroom, a corridor with pigeon-holes.

The music is excellently done. Supervised by Richard Reeday, the segues reference the songs and the artistes from the script. Scripps [Max Gallagher], a pale, earnest Anglican, plays the piano, notably for Posner, the odd boy out, denizen of dictionary corner, Hector's greatest fan, the only loser in the game of life, brilliantly played by Philip Labey. His "love and understand me" is laden with longing, his Sing As We Go was greeted on the first night with awed silence.

All the boys inhabit their roles with sincerity and enthusiasm – Oliver Llewellyn-Jenkins' rugger-mad Rudge, Scott Arthur's cocky Dakin, James Dryden – in his professional début – as the life-and-soul Timms.

And the classroom scenes feel natural and improvised. The "tosh", the old movies, the French class, the shared passions. Bennett's school is a strange mixture of the modern and the Secondary Modern – the Headmaster would surely be harder on uniform infringements than Hector – and the wide cultural sweep is symbolised by Timms' Nike bag and Posner's satchel. The original play is very long, but I still miss many of those lost lines [Mrs Lintott particularly pruned], the Seventh Veil and the knock at the door …

But this is an affectionate production, faithful to the spirit of the piece, and unusually respectful of the playwright's words and intentions – the sexual connotations of Poland, the handwriting compared, the subjunctive mood, history rattling over the points ...

THE WORLD GOES 'ROUND

THE WORLD GOES 'ROUND

Brentwood Operatic Society at Brentwood Theatre

22.05.13

Not just a best-of concert. Indeed one of the joys of this Kander & Ebb compendium, first produced in 1991, is discovering their lesser known work, often just as catchy, just as well crafted as the hits from Cabaret and Chicago. My favourite find ? Perhaps the love song to Sara Lee – all about layer cake, with a tap routine the icing on top.

BOS's version, directed by Sam Cousins with MD Jonathan Sands, is an almost sinful pleasure, with inventive choreography on the tiny stage, helped by creative lighting [Guy Lee]. The frenetic caffeine-fuelled Cardboard Cup, the ukulele babies, Ring Them Bells, complete with standard lamp, the hardships of the dancer in Pain, the skaters frozen on The Rink, the jazz-hand white gloves in Cabaret, the polyglot tour bus in the New York, New York finale.

Among the many impressive solos and duets, Juliet Thomas's title number, her tipsy thoughts on Class with Mandi Threadgold-Smith, Sian Hopwood's illicit longing for a touch of Arthur in the Afternoon, housewife and superstar Amy Newland and Nina Jarram's mutual envy – "That's wonderful!" - in The Grass Is Always Greener, and Martin Harris's beautifully judged Mr Cellophane.

Polished and professional, like the close harmonies, the excellently disciplined chorus and the quartet in the pit, much of this would not look amiss on any stage. Brentwood - "How Lucky Can You Get ?"

SHAKERS

SHAKERS

Chelmsford Theatre Workshop at the Old Court

21.05.13

Fun. Some Nights. Pink. Raise Your Glass. A fresh new look for Shakers in Joe Kennedy's production, with dance routines to set the mood and the ambience, all devised by the girls - Catherine Hitchins, Gemma Robinson, Helen Quigley and Caroline Wright.

Like the better known [and, frankly, better] Bouncers, Godber's 1985 piece has its four actors play not only the jaded waitresses in the glitzy cocktail bar, but also their lairy customers – lads on the pull, telly folk, couples dining, shopgirls celebrating a birthday. As well as the bar, the dance floor and the kitchens, we peek into the changing rooms at River Island, and eavesdrop on a fraught auditions. And, in soberer moments, soliloquies sharing the secret thoughts of the Shakers girls.

Laura Bennett was there for the Chelmsford Weekly News:

Following the resounding success of CTW's excellent production of Bouncers last year, Artistic Director Joe Kennedy has chosen to produce John Godber's all-female follow up this season. Structured similarly to the male version, an almost bare set houses a cast of four actresses who play the waitresses at "Shakers", as well as the cocktail bar's various male and female customers. Jaded to varying degrees by the clichés involved in selling a never ending stream of "Slow Comfortable Screws", the ladies' weary smiles and feigned politeness are coupled with a collection of witty asides and touching monologues developing a core of well rounded characters.
Catherine Hitchins' acting skills were matched by her evident dancing ability. Both Caroline Wright and Helen Quigley shone in their emotional monologues. Gemma Robinson proved herself an accomplished all-rounder, superbly expressive with a natural flair for comedy.
It is difficult not to make comparisons with Godber's original Bouncers script, and Shakers never quite lives up to the quality of the male version. The humour is far subtler than the unrelenting, insightful, laugh-out-loud comedy written for the men, and despite some lovely moments from the tight-knit cast there were times where the slick pace started to waver.
Director Joe Kennedy and assistant Jacob Burtenshaw were clearly inclusive and collaborative in their approach, benefiting from the perspective and skills that the company could contribute. The result overall achieved another entertaining and enjoyable production from CTW, who change the tone for their next show with political drama Frost/Nixon.