OUT IN THE GARDEN

Chelmsford Theatre Workshop at the Old Court

01.02.11

“Families – who'd have one?”

“You can't escape your destiny!”


What do you do if you're about to break your duck, and then suddenly realise you'd be happier batting for the other side ?

Carolyn Scott-Jeffs' loud and proud comedy was a hit in Edinburgh a few years back, with minor soap stars in the cast.

But it follows a much older tradition: the comedy of mistaken identities and misunderstandings. It even has its own Little Miss Malaprop. A coarser successor to Ayckbourn and Cooney.

A strong, well-bonded cast got laughs galore on the opening night, from the minute the stag night survivors crash into the garden in various states of undress and inebriation. First up is Liam, the bridegroom's camp new friend, picked up in The Jester in a drunken Damascene moment. He's the fly in the ointment, the spanner in the wedding works, and the last man confused young Stuart wants to see in his Mum's gnome-infested Birmingham backyard. Ian Eagleton was a very watchable Liam – a born farceur, his screaming queen, writhing, squirming in embarrassment was a joy, and he used his rare moments of quiet stillness effectively, too. As the groom who discovers he's gay, Danny Segeth had a very convincing hangover; his desperation in the face of his dilemma was palpable, too.

These two excellent comic actors were joined by Sarah Bell, ballsy fiancée of Stu's London-based brother [Philip Hart]. Inspired comedy turns from Rebecca Errington, the dozy bride to be in her lacy optimistic knickers, and Debbie Miles as Mum, Dusty Springfield re-drawn by Beryl Cook, and a formidable comic presence.

This is an outrageous piece, and the quality of the acting made us temporarily oblivious to the weaknesses in the plot, especially after the interval. But there are many pages of beautifully written dialogue, some welcome subtlety, and a tender moment of truth to give us some food for thought amidst the hysteria. And this production, directed with wit and style by Lynne Foster with Tonio Ellis, was a welcome revival of a splendid romp.

NO SEX, PLEASE, WE'RE BRITISH !

Early Doors Productions at the Brentwood Theatre

05.02.11

How daring the title seemed back then, and how quaint it sounds now, when every Hotmail household can taste forbidden fruit …

A sell-out run for this shiny new production company, boasting some of the best talent around, tackling an iconic 70s stage hit. Very much a period piece now, with its limp double entendres, on the watershed between Whitehall farce and the Permissive Society.

The omens were good – nice programme with spoof ads, a lovely set with six doors, period wallpaper samples and a serving hatch with a mind of its own. Vintage radio on the soundtrack.

But the show itself didn't quite cut it. No bad performances, several good ones, but not quite slick, pacy and polished enough to be hilarious.

Martin Harris got closest to the period style with his fussy little Mr Runnicles, a constant delight. And Julie Salter managed a nicely elegant battle-axe as mother-in-law to the lovely Frances [Rachel Lane]. Gary Ball, though competent with the mechanics of farce, was hard to credit as a sub branch- manager in the 70s, or her son, or her husband. Ray Johnson was a suave Bromhead, and Justin Cartledge relished the trio of Inspector, vanman and Needham. Though it has to be said that he was behind most of the self-indulgent corpsing we saw on Saturday night.

Two scrubbers sent round by the Scandinavian Import Company were Amy Clayton, who also directed and designed, and Sarah Miles.

Lots of good ideas – the sofa trios, the doors – and a salutary reminder of those innocent days before video, when Dubonnet and stuffed olives were sophisticated, and we sniggered at “orgy” and “virginity”, “cucumber” and “Tupperware”.

Next on Early Doors' hitlist, The 39 Steps, with the legendary Lionel Bishop added to the roster. At the Cramphorn Chelmsford in September.

84 CHARING CROSS ROAD

Theatre at Baddow at the Parish Hall

27.01.11

In the days before Amazon, books were a valued commodity, fine editions especially precious.

Helene Hanff's story tells of her twenty-year transatlantic love affair with a London bookshop. TAB's enjoyable production, directed with a keen eye for detail and a strong sense of period by Helen Quigley, sets the author's dowdy brownstone apartment against the dusty bookshelves of Marks & Co. I liked the way the stacks seemed to disappear into the darkness off left, and almost all the volumes looked authentic.

Roger Saddington was Frank Doel, the “solitary soul” who signs the firm's letters. He skilfully suggested the desk-bound, buttoned-up individual who gradually warms to Helene's playful raillery. Beth Crozier's spinster wordsmith looked absolutely right, every inch the writer, and she gave an impressive performance in this huge role. The moments when she learns she is to be evicted, when she asks anxiously after the “other girls” and when she hears of Doel's death were particularly moving, but this was a colourful patchwork of moods and emotions, her letters brought to vibrant life.

Impeccable support from a strong cast, including Alan Ireland as Old Mr Martin, Diane Johnston as the glamorous actress friend, Patrick Willis as Bill Humphries, Claire Lloyd as Welsh shop-girl Megan, and Eleanor March as a very 1950s Miss Cecily.

Occasionally the pace flagged, the narrative threatened to lose its way, but the overall effect was wonderfully warm, a faithful picture of an unlikely infatuation in a world we have lost for ever. I treasure the tableau – pure Norman Rockwell – when the staff gathered to unwrap the first of many Christmas parcels from New York …

I just hope someone caught it on camera !

production photos by Helen Quigley

THE HISTORY BOYS

national tour co-produced by the West Yorkshire Playhouse and Theatre Royal Bath

2011 cast at the Chichester Festival Theatre

29.01.11

“Didn't he look like Trimlett from behind ?”

All these characters, staff and boys, could stir schoolday memories in the audience, I'm sure, whether from “the distance enchanted” or the day before yesterday.

For me, it was a poignantly vulnerable Irwin [Ben Lambert] and Scripps [Harry Waller], the earnest, myopic boy with the awkward arms, who plays the piano, addresses the audience and later “writes it all down” …

Philip Franks, Chichester stalwart, was fleshy and flamboyant as Hector, but not perhaps “the big man” the boys might remember; his cry of frustration and pain was strangely lacking in emotional power.

Penelope Beaumont made a believable Mrs Lintott, and I liked Thomas Wheatley's Gradgrind Headmaster – the cynical geographer from Hull played with exquisite irony here by an historian from Corpus !

George Banks had a nice swagger as Dakin – his duologue with Irwin one of several duets at a distance which worked wonderfully on the Chichester thrust. It was all the more powerful when he finally did reach out to him.

Rob Delaney, moving as the impossible-to-cast Posner, often caught the pathos of this lost boy, but lacked the slight frame and child-like fragility the role cries out for.

And Christopher Keegan's Timms, clowning or spoofing the movies, had considerable presence, though I can't foresee a Cordenian comedy future for him. I see from the programme that he's played a John C Reilly lookalike – in a few years he could pass for Bernard Manning, if there's any demand.

The set pieces worked well in Luscombe's version, trimmed for length and lightness. Shame to lose the knock at the door, or the Seven Veils, though, and the famous French maison de passe was needlessly orgiastic, almost as if the boys were somehow sending up the incident in retrospect. Brief Encounter was spot on, however.
The music, whether pumped out over the speakers or bashed out on the battered upright, was as evocative as ever. I'd not recalled the hymn referenced in the heavy bass of the next transition, or Burgon's Nunc Dimittis, recalling another school, another Schoolboy.

Bennett's greatest hit is a strange mélange of periods. The students always seem very 21^st century to me, perhaps because of the youthful enthusiasm successive casts have brought to the characters. The ethos of the school embraces exhibitions, scholarships and league tables. The furniture, in Janet Bird's simple, revolving design, reflected this confusion, as did the schoolboys' eclectic schoolbags …

THE SNOW QUEEN

Galleywood Theatre Group at the Church of St Michael and All Angels

22.01.11

A world première Panto, and the first I've seen in a church [though our medieval forebears would have thought nothing of bawdy knockabout drama in the aisles]. 
St Michael and All Angels were joint sponsors of The Snow Queen, together with Naked Flame Candles. Mr Simm's Olde Sweet Shoppe benefited from prominent product placement too – confectionery was central to the show, with the Dame [a lively Beverley Eary] in a natty Allsorts apron presiding over her Kingdom of Sweets.

Another experienced performer was Annette Michaels as the evil title character, cackling away in her green gloves and green wig. An unusual character for pantomime was “sophisticated and slightly foreign” René, played with some style and a wonderful accent by Paula Rayner. Stevie Gill and Caroline Fernandez worked hard as Ig and Lou, with two duets and lots of banter.

But there was promising work from the youngsters, too, with a neat chorus ensemble [The Candyman]. And if the young lovers [Charlie Kinsman and Harri-Nicole Kinsman] struggled to put over the dialogue in this unfriendly acoustic, their singing was attractive [a nice Lion King duet].

Debbi Flack directed, with Jo Cocklin in charge of the music.

This is the first major production from a new group – their next venture, appropriately enough, will be The Vicar of Dibley in April.