THINGS TO COME SPRING 2018 AT THE QUEEN’S

THINGS TO COME -
SPRING 2018 AT THE QUEEN’S

The Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch enters its 65^th year, with the classic thriller, Rope. Running from 15 February – 3 March, Patrick Hamilton’s dark drama was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1948 and is based on a 1920’s real life case. It will be directed by the theatre’s Artistic Director Douglas Rintoul and co-produced with New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich.

And the Queen’s is partnering with Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg again to produce Diane Samuels’ heart-warming classic Kindertransport in association with Selladoor Productions. Running from 8 – 24 March, it marks the 80^th anniversary of the Kindertransport and 25 years since this moving modern classic was written.

Finally, disco royalty rolls into town with the glamorous regional professional premiere of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert the Musical from 27 April – 19 May. Based on the smash-hit movie, this popular cult musical is written by Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott and directed by Douglas Rintoul .

Season tickets are already on sale - call the Box Office on 01708 443333 or visit queens-theatre.co.uk

THE INVISIBLE MAN

THE INVISIBLE MAN

at the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch

31.10.2017

for The Reviews Hub

H G Wells’ iconic novella lends itself to the screen rather than the stage. Only one notable theatrical adaptation, by Ken Hill, most recently seen at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Until now.

This world premiere of a commission from Clem Garritty - Artistic Director of Kill The Beast - brings his trade-mark mix of dark drama, physical theatre and live music to the Queen’s. The story is set against a backdrop of a chilly, Gothic Victorian London – it was first published in 1897 – and follows Griffin – here traditionally christened Jack – from his lodgings on Great Portland Street to the rural remotenesses of West Sussex.

Lily Arnold’s set is a masterpiece, constructed largely of cabinets, suggesting the laboratory, with two levels, gas-lamps and multiple doorways. Griffin’s rooms at the university, and his lodgings at the inn at Iping, are pulled in from the wings. The lighting (Nic Farman) is suitably atmospheric – the train journeys are suggested purely by sound and light.

The eight actors are also musicians; one of the strengths of this production is the use of music and song to tell the story and to comment on it, Sweeney Todd style. “Come listen,” they sing as the show opens, warning of the “demon at your front door”, “neither flesh nor ghost”. And ballads, accompanied by fiddles, accordion or pub piano, punctuate the story at key moments.

The action begins with Dr Kemp (a strong, somewhat enigmatic presence from Paul McEwan) lecturing on optics and refraction. A graduate student – none other than the soon-to-be-invisible Jack Griffin – stays behind to hint at a scientific breakthrough undreamed of by the professor. And, in a flash, we’re in Sussex where a sinister figure in dark goggles and a leather greatcoat, his head completely shrouded in white bandages, is about to bring fear and hysteria to the village.

He’s given a compelling performance by Matthew Spencer who movingly portrays the increasingly demented desperation of the scientist who loses control of his experiment, closeted, like Dr Jekyll, with his potions - “I must find a way to reverse the process...”. His performance all the more remarkable since he has to convey so much with just his body language, without any facial expression; in some very effective scenes he is merely a disembodied voice.

Garritty gives his protagonist a strong female counterpart – the suffragette Lucy (Eleanor Wild, who also plays her twin sister, the “actress” Amelia). Like Jack, they both disappear – Amelia into the dangerous slums of Whitechapel, Lucy in Griffin’s university rooms.

Sophie Duval brings out the subtleties and the struggle in the character of Mrs Hall, the pub landlady who rents Griffin a room. Matthew Woodyatt is brilliant as Teddy, her “man”, who mends the bar-room clock  - “time moves more slowly here...” - and later assists the Invisible Man. And Phil Adele plays Thomas Marvel, the vagrant who is recruited by Griffin - “neither of us shall go unseen ever again” - and then steals his precious notebooks.

There is much food for thought alongside the science-fiction/supernatural storyline. Both the vagrant, and the women scientists, suffer “invisibility”. And one of the ballads poses the familiar philosophical question “What would you do if no-one could see?”

There is some stunningly inventive stagecraft – Jack, invisible, unties his books, is captured under a blanket, runs amok in a police cell. And, yes, we do see him disappear before our incredulous eyes. The roof-top dénouement – another invention – makes a dramatic climax. Some of the simplest ideas are the most effective – running across the stage with lanterns, the bowler hat right at the end.

If there is a weakness, it is in the writing; the idiom, while lively and immediate, is sometimes too modern for the period, so well captured in the costumes and the set.

image: Mark Sepple

The Invisible Man from Queen's Theatre Hornchurch on Vimeo.

THE LADYKILLERS

THE LADYKILLERS

Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch

03.10.2017

for The Reviews Hub

Forget Alec Guinness. Forget Tom Hanks. This is an ingenious stage version of William Rose's classic Ealing comedy, penned by Graham (Father Ted) Linehan and first seen in 2011.

Despite its cinematic origins, it is at heart a good old-fashioned farce, lacking only the manic inevitability of the best of that inter-war genre.

Five career criminals take a room in a house near to King's Cross station – very handy for the “stick-up job” they're planning.

Their landlady – serial complainant and waster of police time – is fooled by their unusual “front”, a classical string quartet, but sees through their disguise when the cello case disgorges its cargo of crisp white fivers.

Peter Rowe, artistic director at the New Wolsey, Ipswich, where this revival originated, has produced a slick, well-paced show, greatly assisted by Foxton's impressive set. The house opens like a book to reveal a richly detailed interior, and the whole thing revolves – powered by stage-hands in time-honoured fashion - so that we can see the roof-tops, and the quaint animated board depicting the heist itself. The scene changes are covered by gothic organ music and the play of steam and signals to evoke the railway beyond. Composer and Sound Designer Rebecca Applin provides some very authentic-sounding incidental music, setting the mood and the period to perfection in the wordless prologue.

Rowe's cast is a little uneven. As the widowed Mrs Wilberforce, Ann Penfold gives a lovely little old lady, primly comic. Masterminding his quartet of criminals, and conducting their avant-garde performance, is Steven Elliot's plummy Professor Marcus, his trailing college scarf an amusing running gag; Graham Seed makes the most of con-man Major Courtney, battle-fatigued war hero and closet cross-dresser. Anthony Dunn never really gets the measure of violent Romanian Louis, neither the accent nor the character, but there are very satisfying turns from Sam Lupton – reminiscent of a young David Jason – as the pill-popping, nervy spiv “call me 'Arry” Robinson, and from Damian Williams, excellent as the slow-witted, ham-fisted “Mr Lawson”, looking a little like Oliver Hardy in his ill-fitting jacket.

The cast is completed by Marcus Houden as the long-suffering Constable MacDonald; he also contributes a hilarious cameo as Mrs Jane Tromleyton, figurehead of the “swarm” of elderly ladies who come to hear the performance by the bogus Boccherini lovers, mercifully curtailed by the interval. They are played by a community chorus, locally sourced for each venue.

The rickety old house, with its dodgy plumbing and faulty lights, not to mention permanent resident General Gordon, the raucous Macaw, will take to the road again at the end of the month, to be shoe-horned onto the stage of the Salisbury Playhouse, where it completes its tour.

production photograph: Mike Kwasniak

A FOX ON THE FAIRWAY

A FOX ON THE FAIRWAY

Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch

29 August 2017

for The Reviews Hub

This pacey, undemanding comedy sees rival country clubs resort to desperate measures to take home a coveted golfing trophy.

American playwright Ken Ludwig's last outing on this stage was Lend Me A Tenor, a fast-moving backstage comedy. A Fox on the Fairway, getting its UK première here, also harks back to the golden days of British farce, though the setting is the Tap Room – nineteenth hole – of the Quail Valley Country Club, and many of the jokes are alcohol or sport related.

“Golf and sex are the only things you can enjoy with being good at them,” says Quail Valley's vampish Vice President, setting the tone of the evening early on, in a slightly awkward pre-show string of one-liners delivered straight out to the audience.

Colin Falconer has come up with a stunning set – shades of cream and green, silverware above the bar, crossed niblicks over the doorway. Two swing doors either side of the bar – what farce can do without doors ? – and a general air of moneyed luxury.

A typical American country club, one might think, except that the action has been transposed for the Hornchurch production to the Home Counties, with some success, although the Club cheer and occasional idioms (whole new ball game) betray its origins.

The plot is carefully constructed. The scaffolding is sometimes obvious, the twists predictable. Some very venerable tropes are pressed into service: the birthmark, the wayward PA system, the priceless vase tossed around like a rugby ball. “Just like a Greek play,” opines the gormless waitress, beautifully played by Ottilie Mackintosh – her efforts to conceal her ring-less finger are priceless. She's doing an evening course in Homer, and sees the tournament as a mythical battle of the Ancient World. She also gets to deliver an epilogue, as on the Jacobean stage, before the six actors dance a jig de nos jours to Walk the Moon's Shut Up and Dance.

Her intended is Justin, the newly hired hand who turns out to be the secret weapon in the tournament; he's played with impressive physicality by Romayne Andrews. His pre-shot warm-up, and his melt-down at the crucial seventeeth, are both memorable moments.

His boss is Henry, suave and articulate, played with practised ease by Damien Matthews. His delivery is perfectly pitched - “Oh darling that was our secret ...” he replies, deadpan and unconvincing, to the aforementioned VP, Mrs Pamela Peabody, as she spins lies to get him off the hook. A fine farcical performance by Natalie Walter. Henry's opposite number at the rival Crouching Squirrel Club is Simon Lloyd's Dickie Bell, constantly at risk of being upstaged by his knitwear. A nice character study of an obnoxiously cocky little man, forever mangling his aphorisms. Last to the party is Henry's battle-axe (or Sherman tank) of a wife. A cliché of a character, really, but neatly subverted here in Sarah Quist's larger-than-life performance, earning her an old-fashioned round of applause on her first exit.

The production values are pleasingly high – the scene change in the second act is a wonder to behold. Philip Wilson directs a well-oiled revival of this homage to the innocent days of Rookery Nook and See How They Run. The slapstick is polished, the pace is good, though I could imagine the US version being snappier. Twenty-four hours and eighteen holes all done and dusted in two hours, including the rain break and a twenty minute interval.

There's a helpful links-side lexicon in the programme, and the company were put through their paces at Upminster Golf Club. But you certainly don't need to be an aficionado to appreciate this tale of true love, rivalry, greed and fate.

BRING ON THE BOLLYWOOD

BRING ON THE BOLLYWOOD

Phizzical in association with Belgrade Theatre Coventry and Vivacity Key Theatre
at the Queen's Theatre Hornchurch 

13.06.2017

for The Reviews Hub

A colourful tribute to the Bollywood genre, this big-hearted show explodes onto the Hornchurch stage in a riot of song and dance, gorgeous costumes and songs from the big screen. A little bit camp, a little bit kitsch, but great uncomplicated fun from the title song to the wedding finale.

The setting is simple – stylised Himalayas for a backdrop, and a suggestion in front of Lakshman Villa, the comfortable family haveli in warm colours. There are many scenes, involving the shifting of trucks and some awkward fades to black, but the story moves along almost seamlessly.
Like many juke-box musicals, the plot is secondary to the numbers. Here we have a typical romance, borrowing cleverly from She Stoops to Conquer, in which there is conflict between the old ways and the new, India and the UK, the big city and the quiet life up-country.
Katrina (Nisha Aaliya)is an over-worked doctor in the UK. She's flying back to her roots in India for her brother's wedding. Across the aisle sits Ronny (Robby Khela), on a pilgrimage of his own. We sense, as they do, that their paths will cross again …
But Katrina's mother is anxious to fix her up with “a suitable boy”, and little brother Lucky – the Tony Lumpkin of this version, played by Anthony Sahota - has biceps to die for and issues of his own as the plot unfolds.
But it's not really about the story. Both the writing and the acting are often little more than adequate. As Katrina reminds us, Bollywood is 100% escapism, the sort of thing that movies used to do, back in the day that La La Land sought to recapture. There are fine comic performances from Sakuntala Ramanee as the match-making mother, and Rohit Gokani as the crusty whisky-drinking Colonel. Nice work, too, from the trio of house-servants, and Yanick Ghanty as Amit, the film star with the London accent.
It's all about the exuberant song and dance – Khela particularly impressive in his numbers. And what a variety there is, from the pumping bass of the opener to the almost operatic temple scene, and the traditional puppet dance up on the roof.
It would be nice to have some live music, maybe even one or two actor/musicians, but the glitzy staging and the feel-good fairy-tale will certainly please the Essex fans as it has Coventry and Doncaster – this tour takes its final bow in Peterborough at the end of August.
There's even merchandise – we could all use a Happy Happy tee-shirt, couldn't we ?

production photograph: Nicola Young

EDUCATING RITA

EDUCATING RITA
at the Queen's Theatre Hornchurch

25.04.2017

for the Reviews Hub

Willy Russell's classic two-hander is revised - “revitalised” according to the publicity – in this production at the Queen's.
Two things set it apart: the stage is extended into the auditorium, with audience on three sides of Frank's untidy university study. And the action has been transported from Merseyside to our own Essex, perhaps in the hope that Rita's inspiring story will find a new resonance, and enhanced relevance, for the theatre-goers of Havering and district.
In truth these are of marginal significance. There is more space to fill with the nicely designed chaos of Frank's filing system – though as so often the books on the shelves fail to convince. The two actors, though, spend much time moving around in order to vary the view. And the setting, as always, is a fantasy – an Open University student getting one-to-one tutorials in a seat of learning that is redbrick, if not older, all within easy reach of, say, Romford High Street. No chance, squire.
Ros Philip's pacy production boasts two fine performances from teacher and student. Ruairi Conaghan, scruffy, bearded, piss-artist and “British poet” neatly captures the frustration of the lecturer who's tired of the academic life. He's particularly effective in his drunken collapse, sleeping on a heap of essays, and in his more thoughtful moments. Smoking hunched over his Remington a memorable stage picture. Danielle Flett is superb as the gobby hairdresser: eager, nervous, hungry to learn everything, starting with the meaning of “assonance”. She's totally convincing in her metamorphosis to confident, articulate young woman. Her flirtatious approach to Frank is tellingly done, culminating in the stylist's seduction which ends the play. A riveting performance.
Written in 1980, this is very much a play for its time, and Hornchurch wisely resist the temptation to update as well as uproot. The short scenes are punctuated by juke-box hits: The Police, Abba, Madness, Status Quo. With folk and the Four Seasons on Frank's transistor – cultural relativism one of the underlying themes.
The main theme, of course, is the transformative power of education – in this case English Literature: Blake and Forster, Yeats and Shakespeare. As a perceptive essay in the programme points out, much has changed since Rita burst through the door into the alien world of academia. Students now incur heavy debts for what was free back then. Few now seriously consider learning for its own sake to be an engine of social mobility. And the shared assumptions that made Russell's comedy so successful for years are largely gone.
Nonetheless, this straightforward, honest production still packs a punch, and raises awkward questions about education in today's classless society, even if cathartic laughter is in short supply.

production photograph: Mark Sepple

THINGS TO COME – THE CRUCIBLE

THINGS TO COME – THE CRUCIBLE

Big names head the Queen's cast for Arthur Miller's classic The Crucible, now starting a month's run at Billet Lane.
This bold new production, produced in collaboration with Sellador Productions and Les T Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, stars Charlie Condou and Victoria Yeates as the witch-finder Reverend Hale and Elizabeth Proctor.
The Crucible revolves around the true story of the infamous Salem witch-trials in 1692 – 1693. Douglas Rintoul, the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch’s resident Artistic Director who thrilled audiences with his smash hit sell-out musical Made in Dagenham, has directed. The Crucible is about more than just a witch-hunt and promises to submerge audiences into a melting pot of lies, hysteria, greed and manipulation. Audiences will be engrossed right from the beginning as they witness the young Abigail Williams [Lucy Keirl] tear through the village like a whirlwind to inflict fear and death. No one is safe.

The production runs in Hornchurch until March 11, then begins a tour which will take them as far as Luxembourg.


For more information about The Crucible at the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and the Jump the Q Season Ticket, call the Box Office on 01708 443333 or visit queens-theatre.co.uk

CINDERELLA

CINDERELLA 
at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch
05.12.2016
for The Reviews Hub

“Well it's good, but it's not what I'd call traditional ...”
Soundbite from the little old lady just along the row. She has a point.
Andrew Pollard's script has more than a few novel touches. Baron Hardup has expired, leaving his wicked widow free to bully poor Cinders unchecked. Cinders herself is feisty and forceful (and in this company plays a mean trombone). Hard to imagine her knuckling under for long, and indeed she does turn on her tormentors before the happy-ever-after ending. The ugly duckling turns into a bevy of swans to pull the pumpkin coach. No riches to rags transformation, very few pyrotechnics, some witty cultural asides, and the jokes a mixture of the amusingly original and the junior school playground. And, surely a first, the panto song is that old Pat Boone favourite Quando Quando Quando.
But there's a proper staircase for the walk-down, a traditional ghost routine (done to the Ghostbusters theme), and an opening number in the village square featuring the Young Company, one of three teams of ten local children.
Martin Berry's production, a little coarse and raucous for some tastes perhaps, keeps up an energetic pace from the off, only some of the longer songs slowing the action. Most of the numbers, though, were apposite and excellently delivered by the talented company of actor-musicians, with Joshua Goodman the MD. Christina Aguilera's Words Can't Bring Me Down, for example, Dreamgirls' One Night Only or Adele's To Make You Feel My Love, with a great fiddle obbligato from Dandini.
Jonathan Charles is superb in this often thankless role – a poor Italian immigrant, reeling off a stream of Italian names, playing his violin and teaching his master the art of love before changing identities, in a very thin disguise, with Sebastian, aka Prince Charming of Chelmsford (Jamie Noar). His Cinders is played with gutsy charm by Natasha Lewis, with some outstanding vocals, too.
Buttons, the Justin Bieber of Romford, is Alex Tomkins, playing on the sympathy of the audience, and rewarded by an invitation to join the happy couple in their new life together. The Fairy Godmother, her wand a silver flute, is beautifully spoken by Etisyai Philip.
The trio of baddies – all firmly rooted in Essex – are Kylie amd Miley, ugly sisters (Carl Patrick and Simon Pontin) and the Baroness, Hornchurch regular Georgina Field squeezing every last drop of evil from her role, and proving a fine saxophonist to boot. The trombone/sax face-off one of many inspired moments in this innovative production.
Mark Walters' design is sparkly and pretty as a picture-book. His costumes range from the cygnets' feathery drawers through the elegant gowns for Cinders and the Good Fairy to the OTT creations for the Sisters: designer handbags, Christmas gift-wrap, and, cleverest of all, the cocktail dresses.
Shouting out advice, encouraging bashful Buttons, screaming out that Behind-You “meta-theatrical rubbish”, the opening night audience of “children and coffin-dodgers” loved it all, from the “sniffle-stopper” - an ingenious tissue dispenser projecting loo-rolls over the front stalls – to the giant beach balls for the megamix party finale.

production photograph: Mark Sepple

Rave reviews for Cinderella at the Queen's Theatre Hornchurch from Queen's Theatre Hornchurch on Vimeo.

PARTNERS IN CRIME

PARTNERS IN CRIME
A Queen's Hornchurch production and Eleanor Lloyd production in association with The Watermill Theatre 
at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch

31.10.2016

for The Reviews Hub

Watch in amazement as civilization is saved by just eight actors with a few tricks up their sleeves.
Sarah Punshon and Johann Hari have based their show on an early Agatha Christie, The Secret Adversary, published in 1922, the first outing for the sleuthing duo Tommy and Tuppence. Their adaptation, still with its original title, premièred last year at the Watermill in Berkshire, and enjoyed a modest tour thereafter.
Now, with a new title and a new director, John Nicholson, it comes to the Queen's, a perfect fit for their house style and their actor/musicians. The plot – beastly Bolsheviks, secret agents, mysterious mastermind – could be Buchan, and the playful feel of the tongue-in-cheek treatment will remind many of the West End Thirty-nine Steps.
The company catches the 1920s era precisely. Naomi Sheldon is a bright young Tuppence, more than a match for the baddies, unfairly overlooked for a job in the Ministry, the reward offered to Richard Holt's stiff-upper-lip Tommy on the final page. Isla Carter is the soi-disant Annette, Phillip Batley the stereotype American searching for his long-lost cousin Jane, a survivor of the Lusitania. Rita, the Vamp from Valparaiso, belting out a snatch of Helen Kane's hit I Want To Be Bad, is played with great relish by Rebecca Bainbridge, who's also the bewhiskered Bolshevik conspirator Kramenin. Nigel Lister is the man from the ministry, suave, sophisticated, keeping his secret till the last moment.  Survivor from the Watermill, Morgan Philpott plays Mr Whittington, many other parts (a monocled announcer, then seconds later the Home Secretary), plus a mean banjo – his rendition of See Him In Your Dreams (referring to that master of disguise “Mr Brown”) is one of many musical highlights.
Alex Silverman's excellent score uses popular song and incidental music, silent movie style, for the fights and the chases.  And Mr Battley's bassoon for suspense. Inga Davis-Rutter at the stage left upright is joined by instrumentalists from the cast, and everyone joins in the white tie and tails opening number: Look For The Silver Lining, Jerome Kern's hit of 1920.
Tom Rogers' set is crucial to the mood and the mechanics of the piece. A gloomy backstage décor with, centre stage, a huge keyhole. Ruched silk curtains rise to reveal various simple settings, swiftly and stylishly changed. Lots of illusion – an economics lecture done with magic tricks – and countless ingenious devices. The exposition is done over the subtly hilarious washing up, the General Strike with ombres chinoises, the Lusitania with a magic lantern. And, best of all, Tommy assumes a disguise on the hoof by stunning sleight of hand. Doors, traps, ladders, trolleys are all used with dazzling skill at a breath-taking pace.
True, the plot is convoluted – we're given a recap at the top of Act Two – but the story is not really the point here. What Hornchurch are giving us, gift-wrapped and delectable, is a reminder of a time of austerity, social unrest and political uncertainty, and two hours of escapist fun as we scan the skies for a silver lining of our own.
production photograph: Mark Sepple

A MONTH OF SUNDAYS

A MONTH OF SUNDAYS
A Queen's Hornchurch production
at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch


26.09.2016

for The Reviews Hub

This gentle comedy from sitcom master Bob Larbey celebrates its thirtieth birthday this year. Its West End production, starring George Cole, won Best Comedy of 1986. Jason Robards played Senior Citizen Cooper in the American version the next year.
But, though the piece continues to be popular on the amateur stage, this Hornchurch production is its first major revival since then.
Cooper – no-one calls him John – is living out his end days in a well-appointed Surrey rest home (a believable set by designer Anthony Lamble, opulently old-fashioned, but with an annoyingly reflective rear window). Along with his mucker Aylott, he endures the round of mealtimes and visiting hours, the palliative platitudes (“I hope I'm as lively as you at your age!”) as well as the natural shocks that flesh is heir to. The staff are the Panzer Division, the demented are the Zombies.
Variously described as a dirty old man and the acceptable face of senility, Cooper is engagingly played by William Hoyland, hardly ever off the stage, pottering about his spacious room, confiding in the audience. Jonathan to his David, Aylott (Robin Hooper) is a fussy little man, physically much more spry, but terrified of losing his mind. Their final scene is almost unbearably affecting, played with sensitive timing and understated emotion.
Good support from the staff: Connie Walker as the elliptical Mrs Baker, with her carpet sweeper and her obliging song. And Anna Leong Brophy as Nurse Wilson, caring for Cooper perhaps more than she should, touchingly human beneath the starched uniform. Cooper's daughter and son-in-law, whose reluctant monthly pilgrimages from Milton Keynes give the play its title, are Sophie Russell, whose scene alone with her father is one of the strongest, and Gareth Clarke, as her flat-roofed husband who could have strayed in from an Ayckbourn, a fine study in awkwardness.
“There's no drama, it just goes on ...” says Cooper of his life in the luxury of the home. And, as with Waiting for Godot, we see the day repeat itself: the mantras - “Much the same … mustn't grumble” and the difficult micturition. 
Russell Bolam's production has some lovely moments – the mime at the start of the children's second Sunday visit – and delightful dream sequences between the scenes, flashing lights, an ironic Wakey Wakey from Billy Cotton, bizarre characters entering through wardrobe and fireplace, sand-dancing nuns, WG Grace, Aylott as a punk on skis. The song and dance to Flanagan and Allen's Miss You is particularly poignant.
The play is not always convincing – the children's change of heart in particular – and though there are chuckles of recognition there's little comfort for the silver heads in the stalls; the corridor, with its occasional tables and walking aids, runs through the auditorium. But the ending, with the 11th man in the 1947 MCC side still un-named, strikes just the right note of wry resignation.

photograph: Mark Sepple

MADE IN DAGENHAM

MADE IN DAGENHAM
A New Wolsey Ipswich / Queen's Hornchurch co-production
at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch
30.08.2016
for The Reviews Hub

Vintage Fords flock to Hornchurch for the opening of this major revival of the 2014 musical. It's based on the film of a few years earlier, which embroiders the story of the Dagenham machinists' 1968 strike.
Inside the packed auditorium, some of those original activists, as well as a contingent from the New Wolsey Theatre, less than an hour up the A12 by souped-up Cortina. For this is a co-production, transferring to Suffolk after its three weeks on Billet Lane.
As Douglas Rintoul, the Queen's new artistic director says, it's a wonder it took them so long. Both are innovative, energetic producing houses at the heart of their community. His production of this proudly British musical boasts a huge cast of actor/musicians; the story moves smoothly through the upsets and setbacks – emotional and domestic, political and personal – which precede the triumphant TUC climax.
A functional grey industrial set (Hayley Grindle) opens up to reveal the musicians – the men accompany the women's scenes, and vice versa – and to admit the River Plant (so many sewing machines), the Berni Inn and the Hospital. It's all stripped back and simple: props are handed on, the breakfast teapot is popped back in the factory locker, one scene is overlaid on another.
A host of strong, stylish performances. Rita, the fictional “trouble-maker” at the heart of the story, is played with affecting honesty by Daniella Bowen, her man, his mindless masculinity threatened by Rita's new-found political voice, is convincingly done by Alex Tomkins – their duet is touchingly played, and beautifully sung.
But it's the broad-brush comedy characters that make this musical so much fun, and have the best of Richard Bean's uneven script.
Angela Bain gives great value as the pugnacious, potty-mouthed Beryl, Hornchurch regular Sarah Scowen (trumpet) is the lexically-challenged Clare, Wendy Morgan plays Connie, the veteran union official who inspires our Rita to take on the TUC. Her lost love Monty, torn between his members and management, nicely suggested by Anthony Hunt.
Clare Machin is a superb Barbara Castle, the fiery-haired minister whose sympathy for the women's cause is vital in achieving their goals. Her Prime Minister – an even more pantomime Harold Wilson, clueless with his pipe, his Gannex and his old-fashioned sexism – is played with gusto by Graham Kent, who also manages two more character roles: the sadistic Latin master and, stand-up sexism personified, Chubby Chuff. Tooley, the villainous Voice of America – with more than a touch of Trump – is given a bold, brash performance by Jeffrey Harmer. Greg from Personnel, a misogynist in a blue suit, is Daniel Carter-Hope; the middle-class management man and his feisty wife are Jamie Noar and Loren O'Dair. And there's a priceless backing trio of Aides and Ford men: Thomas Sutcliffe, Joey Hickman and Steve Simmonds.
Ben Goddard is the MD, keeping his ever-changing forces together from the keyboard in the wings – an excellent sound, especially when they come together as a big band, with nice period touches, like the accordion or the snatch of Hammond for the Social Club.
As political theatre goes, this is more Billy Elliot than Bertold Brecht. It sometimes feels contrived and manipulative. But it is an entertaining, heart-warming reminder of an important battle in the struggle for women's rights, even if, as the excellent programme reminds us, the war is still not won.

OUR HOUSE

OUR HOUSE

at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch

27.07.2016

for The Reviews Hub

“The London Musical” is a great choice for the Queen's 2016 Community Show.

It's lively, it's a crowd-pleaser, and, like most of the company, and the audience, and indeed Madness themselves, it has its roots just down the road in NW1.

The Community Musical has a long tradition at the Queen's. Every other year, a performing company is formed from scratch, to work with professional creatives – the aim is to get local people involved in the vibrant life of their local playhouse. This year's cast numbers more than fifty, and includes people of all ages from East London and Essex as well as Havering.

Directed by Ros Philips, they fill the stage with school kids and convicts, bringing Las Vegas and Camden Market to life on the huge Queen's stage. James Watson's versatile set features a semi-transparent terrace for Casey Street, with spinning black/white doors for the crucial choices. The familiar numbers are in the safe hands of Andrew Linham's superb band, proudly wearing red sparkly bowlers, with pit prop bric-a-brac spilling over into their house, too.

But on opening night there were issues with balance, meaning that dialogue and lyrics were lost; they are helpful, even to those of us who know the show well, to keep the ingeniously plotted narrative on course.

Every member of the company makes a unique contribution to the success of Our House, from the diminutive denim dancers to Joe's Dad – Paul Robinson an imposing figure in his ghostly suit. Joe Watch makes a convincingly confused school-leaver; Becky Smith is Sarah, the girl he almost loses. Fine character work from the vacuous Angie and Billie (Hayley Sanderson and Lauren Sanders), and their male counterparts, “gormless prats” Emmo and Lewis (Oliver Barry-Brook and Conor Dye). A lovely warm performance from Kerry Lawson as Kath – her big number is a musical highlight. Forces of darkness include Jenson Grech's slimeball Reecey and Mandy Lyes' forbidding Pressman.

Plenty of energy in the big ensembles, though the choreography tends to be static, and some excellent staging: Camden Market, the Nightboat to Cairo with the puppet lovers, and the grey stripes of the prison contrasting with the rose-tinted dream overhead.

A rapturous reception from the first-night fans, cheers and applause sustained through the megamix curtain calls. But disco dazzle and Mexican waves are no substitute for real emotional engagement with the characters and their moral dilemmas, only occasionally achieved in this ambitious community venture.

image: Mark Sepple

THE ROMFORD ROSE

THE ROMFORD ROSE
at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch
31.05.2016

for The Reviews Hub




“If it ain't got pedal steel, it ain't country!” So says Chris Bond, prolific playwright and director – wearing both stetsons for this brand new Country musical. And the superb onstage band boasts not only a pedal steel guitar (B J Cole, no less) but also a damn fine fiddle (Jennifer Douglas).
Bond is probably still best known for the Sweeney Todd that Sondheim saw and loved. This time the music – no covers here, though Dolly Parton is a strong presence – is by Jo Collins, setting Bond's lyrics to some echt-country tunes, in a show that is almost all sung-through.
The eponymous Rose is partying for her 18th – the frontier town is Romford, just down the road from Hornchurch. But it soon becomes obvious that all is not well at home. Mum Yvonne dreams of moving to Chigwell's Manor Road, her daughter hears “Cryin' On The Stair” - one of the best numbers in a rich score; Dad Frank is unhealthily possessive of his “princess”. And disapproves of the lad Jack, the squaddie who's the apple of Rose's eye. “Don't Make Me Mad,” he sings, an omen of the violence to come.
There's a kind of chorus, all drawn from the actor/musicians in the six-piece band: freeloading granny and aunty, and two menacing heavies. Much of the story is narrated in song, with composer/MD Jo Collins singing at the keyboard; it would have been helpful if the sound balance generally had favoured the lyrics a little more.
The four principals are excellent: Sam Pay the troubled Dad, Nicky Croydon as an all-too-credible Essex Mum, as well as Dolly Parton, Rose's other mother. Sarah Day is the birthday girl, singing and dancing with style and energy; Wade Lewin is her gentle hunk of a boyfriend.
The duets are the musical heart of the piece: mother and daughter nicely choreographed, a touchingly upbeat You're The One for the lovers, and a full-on rhinestone and mirror-ball number – She Went To The Well One More Time – for Rose and Ms Parton.
Lots of panto fun – a chase, a motorcar number, clapping along, chanting “There's Nothing Wrong with Romford”. There's grit in the prairie oyster, too: domestic violence, a back-story for Frank and for Jack, and a shout-out for the junior doctors in downtown A&E, warmly received by the packed opening night house.
“Is this the kind of country song that ends in tragedy?” Well, the tense dénouement has a nail-biting moment of raw emotion, but the finale leaves us optimistic for the future of the Romford Rose, her boy Jack and her rockabilly Romford folks.

production photo: Mark Sepple



Introducing the Romford Rose from Queen's Theatre Hornchurch on Vimeo.

BASSETT

BASSETT

Tomorrow's Talent at The Queen's Theatre Hornchurch
09.05.16


James Graham – whose This House won huge acclaim a few years ago – has written an intense drama for NT Connections. This is Wootton Bassett, famous for the repatriation processions which brought our boys back in coffins from the Middle East.
Today, students of Wootton Bassett School should be saluting Charlie, one of their own, another casualty of the Iraq war. Head Boy, hero, idol, Danny Zuko in the high school musical. But they are locked in their classroom, abandoned by a supply teacher at the end of her tether.
The tensions mount, beliefs are questioned, secrets revealed as the live feed is projected from Graeme's [Matthew Hockley] laptop. It's a powerful piece, if lacking in subtlety. Written for a cast of 14, where perhaps ten would have made for a tighter drama.
Directors Gavin Wilkinson and Amy Trigg shape the scene skilfully; the fears, the friendships and the dangerously volatile atmosphere are reflected in the groupings and the stage pictures.
Excellent performances all round: Kelly, outspoken and self-assured, is played by Holly Hosler-White. Academic, pedantic Jonathon by Samuel Wolstenholme. Selfish [supply and demand] Russell is convincingly portrayed by Christopher Tierney, Lucy, breaking her silence to trigger the dramatic dénouement, by Hannah Gurling.
A tremendous performance from Dominic Short as Leo, spray cans and baseball bat in his school bag, who's revealed as a racist, homophobic bully. His confrontations with Amid, the only Muslim in the school [Paul French], are electric. And just before we hear the key turn in the lock of the classroom door, he stands centre stage, reaching out to Charlie's coffin on the screen, as Spencer [Scott Olley], who's spent the entire time with his face to the wall, reads more history from Wikipedia, hesitantly praising Great Britain for standing up to the Axis bullies.
No easy answers in this Citizenship class. The students are forced to confront their tribal beliefs, to question the politics that has sacrificed the lives behind the “repats”.

This evening at the Queen's – partner theatre for the National Theatre's Connections500 – also featured Felsted Theatre Company, directed by Lauren Macey, in Stacey Gregg's I'm Spilling My Heart Out Here, which, like her Perve of 2011, deals with the loss of innocence. “What happened to childhood? - The internet.”