THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURES OF CLOWN SLUT

THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURES OF CLOWN SLUT

Local Girl Productions at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch

14.10.13

for The Public Reviews

Joanna Griffin's Clown Slut loves to dance – she's always liked dancing, from the year 7 disco to the old people's home. She's also very often uncomfortable. Not just when she's enduring a 20% off bikini wax, or the subsequent cheese and onion pasty down her knickers.

But uncomfortable about the laddish banter that greets her at uni, the sexist assumptions implicit in the themed nights in the Students' Union – CEOs and Corporate Hoes, the foxy farmyard. She's uncomfortable about feminism too, with all its stereotypes, can hardly bring herself to say the word.

And it's this confusion that this piece expresses so successfully.

In truth it's more stand-up than drama, but the character is so believably drawn, so honestly acted, that we are compelled to care about the issues she confronts, and, as she says, "have a little think".

There are some excellent comedy riffs – the aforementioned visit to the bargain basement beauty salon, the nightmare in the chemist's, the office party, the kebab shop. Clown Slut's confusing world is peopled by characters who, like her, are only known by nicknames – Beanie Boy, the likeable Scottish lad she bonds with at uni and eventually moves in with, the gaggle of girls: Hunter, Glugger, Two-Stepper and Shotmonster. Only the boring Maureen and Clive at work have a proper name …

Clown Slut herself is easy to sympathise with. She's touchingly innocent [three trips to Magaluf notwithstanding]. We share her outrage in some of the heavier rants, and her horror at the prospect of being stuck on the fast track, wearing the noose of predictability, as the dancing stops.

But our girl is not buying into any of that – not motherhood, not breast-baring activism. She'll be a guerilla groover, keep looking for the dance floor, be a superhero unfettered by conformity.

Among the fringe venues at which this unique show has been seen are universities where young women, and young men, will be confronting exactly these attitudes. It's an inspired way of helping them make empowering choices and, like Clown Slut, stay true to themselves.

The Incredible Adventures of Clown Slut, devised and performed by Joanna Griffin, was directed for Local Girl Productions by Lauren Bracewell.

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews

HEATSTROKE

HEATSTROKE

Phoenix Theatre Company at Christ Church

17.10.13

Three black holdalls on the carousel, two couples trespassing in a villa in Spain, one snake on the patio.

Eric Chappell's flimsy farce features a washed-up actor [skilfully caught by Andy Millward] desperate to be recognised for his soap career in the 80s, with his bit on the side – Angela Gee making the most of Dodie off the cheese-spread commercials.

Their partners in crime are mild-mannered Syd Smith, who should have been creosoting the fence, and his mousy wife [Helen Langley]. The only innocent here is Sir Cliff, whose evocative Summer Holiday is the overture.

The plot curdles with the arrival of Geoff Hadley's ruthless Rayner – a strong stage presence – as the sangria flows and confusion is worse confounded. Not to mention Mad Dog Moon, the dapper axe-man [a nicely dead-pan Jeremy Pruce].

Chris Wright's production for Phoenix boasts a nice warm set, with convincing villa furniture and a decorative gecko on the wall. There are some lively, manic moments, but it would have been good to see more consistently confident performances, with a cracking pace building to a satisfying comedy climax.

HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING

HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING

Brentwood Operatic Society at Brentwood Theatre

16.10.13

Frank Loesser's swan song recalls more innocent days, when HR was Personnel, copies were made with carbon paper and sexual harassment was a harmless slap and cuddle.

Nina Jarram's production at Brentwood brings it into the twenty-first century with a wonderful split-level set, complete with elevator, scrolling Dow Jones, flat screens and cordless phones.

The story, though, is stuck in the 50s, when every secretary's ambition was to marry the boss and "keep his dinner warm". It tells of Window Washer J Pierrepont Finch [a confident Allister Smith] and his inexorable rise to the top of Worldwide Wickets.

Weaknesses in the book are outweighed by some excellent performances and one or two show-stopping routines – the glorious Brotherhood of Man production number well worth waiting for, with its tap shoes, ring binders and waste bins.

Juliet Thomas is the shy Rosemary, getting a crack at the big ballad, and rewarded at last with the hand of her Ponty. Superb character work from Martin Harris as big boss JB, old school song and old-fashioned love duet [with Amy Newland's vamp] both brilliantly handled, and Jordon Cox very watchable as Bud Frump, Finch's devious rival in the mail room. Louise Byrne, as Smitty, brings vocal style to several numbers, including the amusingly staged Coffee Break.

MD for the show is Jonathan Sands. 

THE GOOD PERSON OF SICHUAN

THE GOOD PERSON OF SICHUAN

Made in Colchester at the Mercury Theatre

08.10.13

for The Public Reviews

Brecht's play, written in exile during the war years, is intended as a parable, an epic theatre exploration of morality and society.

Can we be wholly good in an imperfect world ?

The story is set in Sichuan province, where three Enlightened Ones come down to earth in search of just one good person in a world of dishonesty, poverty and evil. They reward her with enough money to start up a business, and that's when her troubles begin …

Nikolai Foster's production uses a modern, but by no means colloquial, translation by poet Michael Hofmann. ["Is it not fatiguing to lash out at one's fellow creatures?" a typical line.] It boasts that it is "bang up to date". Now it is true that the themes of the play are very relevant to our own society, just as Brecht would have felt that China resonated with Germany. He would want us to ponder the links between economics and morality. And this is just what we're encouraged to do by the Mercury's Only Way Is Ethics festival, running in parallel with this piece and Man to Man, its companion in the studio.

But a specific, realistic setting will always be fighting against the text; the grungy urban style of this production, and the demotic delivery, seem to diminish, rather than enhance, its message.

It is a splendid set, though, – design by "takis" – on three levels, with graffiti tags, a burnt out car, a vending machine. There is music composed by Grant Olding – the Pigs Will Fly number at the wedding works well, perhaps because all the words are audible.

There are several strong performances: Tanya Franks is Shen Te the prostitute who opens a tobacco shop with the Gods' reward. She's the Angel of the Suburbs; her rice food bank is a lifeline, but her life boat is soon swamped by sheer force of numbers, so she has to invent, and impersonate, a male "cousin" alter ego to avoid being exploited by the teeming masses of the poor. Her final speech is movingly done, as she reveals her ruse to the Gods in judgement. Gary Shelford is jobless pilot Yang Sun, Jake Davis the friendly water seller Wang who draws us into the narrative and keeps a watching brief. And Sue Vincent makes a blunt, no-nonsense shopkeeper as well as the mother of the bridegroom.

Good to see a posse of youngsters drafted in to play extended families, beggars, and in a touching moment, Shen's future son.

Some of the most effective scenes are the simplest – the three Gods and Wang always strongly grouped – and the trial, least naturalistic of the scenes, is the stronger for it.

No epilogue here, but a much more powerful ending in Shen Te's heart-rending, rain-sodden plea for help, not to the departing Gods, but to us the audience.

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews