THE DRESSER
Kelvedon Players
30.05.08



Not many actors have their own dresser these days, but only two generations ago wartime privations still did not mean that Sir had to launder his own smalls.

Norman - sensitively played by Andy Perrin - is the devoted servant of the title. We could he believe that he survived Colwyn Bay, or that he might end his days as a ship's steward once his master's voice finally fell silent. He was at his best in the final maudlin moments, and in his cutting confrontation with the ambitious young Irene - a promising performance from Cristina d'Andrea.

Annette Williams looked every inch the part of the long-suffering leading lady [all the costumes were carefully chosen], though she would have had a much posher voice, tobacco stained with cut-glass vowels.

Mike Nower held the stage effortlessly as Sir; a riveting performance from the broken, tearful start to the triumph in his farewell Lear. His voice and his stature changed impressively as the greasepaint and the promise of a Full House worked their healing magic.

Jan Holton was the harrowed SM, and the pathetic touring company, decimated by war, was represented by Peter Russell and Peter Redman, with assorted Knights and Voices Off.

The Dresser, dedicated to the memory of Bill Saffell, was directed by Rosemary Townsend, in an evocative set which fitted comfortably into the fading splendour of Kelvedon's Institute.


JR wrote:

Just back from my evening out watching Kelvedon Players perform 'The Dresser', the same play in which I appeared as Norman, the theatre dresser of the title, for Little Baddow Drama a good few years ago. The film starred Albert Finney and Tom Courteney.

For me it was an 'OK' evening, though I'm not raving about it. This might be because my 'appreciation' was coloured by our own production of the play - I know that we had a very good cast at all levels, whereas I was not exactly 'fussed' for those playing some of the smaller roles over at Kelvedon.

Mike Nower played 'Sir', the actor-manager of a third rate touring company during WW2 (based on the last of the actor-managers, Sir Donald Wolfit). For me he had too light a voice - I would have preferred booming 'nobody sleeps while I'm on stage' tones, the same timbred voice that Albert Finney in the film used to excellent effect to stop the departing train ! However, Mike gave an intelligent and wholly believable performance as the man who had led his third rate troupe of players round the Provinces for many years. His wig did him no favours, but then wasn't that in itself a subtle way of underlining the tattiness of his motley crew ?

Andy Perrin as Sir's dresser, Norman, quickly warmed to his part and did not overdo the camper side of the character. He was particularly 'at home' in the 2nd Act dramatic moments. Perhaps he could have pointed the subtler moments slightly better, such as the story of 'his friend' in Colwyn Bay .. or his barbed comments at Madge.

In her two main dialogues Annette Williams as 'Her Ladyship' was not entirely 'at home' .. should she not have been more sharp-tongued and venomous in her 'interval' scene with 'Sir' ?

The bustling efficiency and bristly edge of stage manager Madge was not fully captured, though her final triumphal moment when she 'appropriated' Sir's ring was well done.

The wanna-be-Cordelia-by-hook-or-by-crook Irene was given an intelligentreading by young Cristina D'Andrea. It certainly made her two friends inthe row in front of me stop their texting !

“ART”

Chelmsford Theatre Workshop at the Old Court

21.05.08

An unlikely hit, Yasmina Reza's drama depends a lot on the casting, which in the West End was regularly changed to bring in new guest stars. The original actors were Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay and Ken Stott.

The problem I have with it is that it is so very French. Three thirty-something men, discussing not football or popular culture, but philosophy, poetry and fine art. The play is about relationships, but "art" [the quotes are part of the title] is the catalyst, the keystone of the conflict.

CTW's trio – chamber music is not a bad analogy for the style here – was a tad blokish, given the intellectual weight of the dialogue. Body language, mangled French, Christopher Hampton's coarse translation, none of it helped us believe what we were hearing.

But the performances were otherwise excellent, and Christine Davidson's production had some wonderful ideas: the diary-room asides to the audience, the three wise monkeys, the three taps to the chest immediately echoed by three knocks on the door [any French actor would recognise les trois coups], the sequence with the olives – all great theatre. The pace was varied and the actors sparked off each other with practised assurance.

Stuart Moore was Serge, an unlikely dermatologist [feet resolutely apart, arms too far from the body] and proud owner of the 200,000 Franc canvas. Jeremy Battersby got closest to the spirit of the piece with his cynical, slightly crumpled, slightly camp Marc, brilliant when he was trying to be on his best behaviour, and very effectivel in the nicely judged final moments. Caught in the middle [nicely reflected in the sofa grouping at one point] was Dean Hempstead as Yvan, the referee and reconciler, who shone in his virtuoso phone call with his mother.

The suitably monastic set was by Robin Winder, and the assistant director was Lynne Foster.

read Mary Redman's review for the Essex Chronicle Go!

THE SORCERER

Trinity Methodist Drama at the Civic Theatre

14.05.08

Trinity have been bringing operetta to the Civic Stage for thirty years. This latest revival of the Sorcerer boasted excellent singing, a polished pit orchestra, beautiful costumes, an imposing set and plenty of pyrotechnics.

Acting was less strong, with some notable exceptions, including director Tony Brett as the deaf old notary. The other star turn was Adam Sullivan, as the huckster of the title. Although by no means the most experienced member of the cast, he is clearly steeped in the Savoyard tradition, and gave a great character performance as well as handling the vocal part with some skill.

Janet Moore was Lady Sangazure, delivering her numbers beautifully, including a lovely new setting of In Days Gone By. Daniel Owers was a smart suitor to Beverley Lockyer's Aline, and Elizabeth Kent was Constance, again very assured in her solo work. The old fogey parson was nicely sung by Gary Griffiths.

The ensemble was well managed, [the Act One finale, the quintet in Act Two] and the Curtain Call was a triumph of staging. But elsewhere there was “maddening inaction”, and this, combined with the philtre plot [which Sullivan loathed], meant that this was not quite vintage Trinity.

The MD was Gerald Hindes, keeping the show moving with sprightly tempi, and a lovely oom-pah overture.

DEAR JANE

Cameo Players at Hylands House

11.05.08

As part of Hylands House Jane Austen week, the Cameo Players, who specialise in these period pots-pourris, brought us Dear Jane, her life and work in letters, reminiscences and extracts from works both familiar and obscure.

It was a wonderful evening. The splendid surroundings, the costumes [Jane Hunt], even the weather, combined with a talented cast to make a memorable entertainment.

The script, researched and devised by Lindsay Lloyd, began with Jane's nephew recalling her funeral, and ended with a selection box of bons mots from the canon.

On the way, we met a gallery of characters both fictional and actual. Jane's brother marching his company to winter quarters in Chelmsford, her father and his “large and varied library”, Kipling on Persuasion, the cruel Mrs Craven, Tom Lefroy, her Irish love, her dear sister Cassandra.

There were triumphs and tragedies, courtship and gossip, family theatricals – a priceless piece of juvenilia called The Mystery – dancing, and music: Doublet [Kate Knight and Roy Sach], appropriately and elegantly costumed. And of course her “children”, the novels.

We heard sensitively dramatized scenes from several, including dancing with Darcy and a breathless exchange about the Mysteries of Udolpho.

The Cameo company on this occasion was Robert Bastian, Ken Rolf, Paul Carnell, Lindsay Lloyd, Naomi Phillips and Patricia Lee.

CHELMSFORD SINFONIETTA FESTIVAL

Chelmsford Cathedral

08-10.05.08

Beethoven's sprightly Seventh Symphony made a fine finale to the first ever Chelmsford Sinfonietta Festival. The orchestra, under its regular conductor Robin Browning, and led by Suzanne Loze, began with great delicacy, though the drive and the urgency in the writing were always present. The Allegretto began almost like a quartet – the string playing was a great strength of the whole programme – building to a monumental climax, and the martial trumpets and tympani of the closing Allegro brought the evening to a glorious conclusion.

After a sure-footed, impeccably paced Mozart Symphony, Craig Ogden was the soloist in the Rodrigo Guitar Concerto. An inspired choice for a sultry evening, this familiar work came across as fresh, almost improvised, with beautiful playing from Ogden and the strings, now whispering, now dazzling, and Chris O'Neal's limpid cor anglais in the famous Adagio. Before signing CDs in the interval, the soloist left us with an exquisite arrangement of Django Reinhardt's Nuages.

Craig Ogden was also prominent in the London Tango Quintet, who launched the Festival with a feast of Piazzolla, including the three-part Angel pieces. It was a lovely, rich sound, with ad hoc percussion from the five players, who also took turns in the spotlight with a showpiece solo. So Ogden gave us a Vivaldi Concerto, enterprisingly accompanied by the other four, with a delicious slow movement followed by a sprint to the finish. Tim Carey, whose baby this Festival was, played Liszt, double bass Tony Hougham a movement from a Bottesini concerto, violinist David Juritz the exciting rough magic of Ravel's Tzigane. Milos Milivojevic, whose accordion playing was crucial to the success of the evening, amazed us with a Mendelssohn Chorale Prelude.

Tim Carey was joined by duet partner Martin Sanders-Hewett for Friday's concert, which included Bach arranged by Myra Hess, Debussy's passionate, desolate En Blanc et Noir, the exuberant Scaramouche, and a typically witty and inventive Grainger arrangement of music from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. After this brilliant, and no doubt exhausting, exploration of the repertoire, they managed a delightful encore: a couple of numbers from Richard Rodney Bennett's Four Piece Suite.

A very promising first Festival. The word on the Cathedral Lawns was that there should be another. I would certainly support it. A winning combination of this great little orchestra – just the right forces for the Beethoven in this venue – a manageable [and affordable] three nights of music, and the glorious architecture and acoustic of our Cathedral. Sponsors take note – Hill and Abbott, regular supporters of the old Cathedral Festival, were alone this year.