FAME

Danbury Players

10.06.11

Even in the early 80s, no-one really believed that Fame would make you immortal, but there's an endearing optimism about the kids who're “going to live forever” in the film and its franchise, which includes tv, reality shows and this musical.

Choosing Fame for your first venture onto the musical stage shows a deal of optimism too, not to mention chutzpah and lack of fear.

I thought the most impressive thing about Trevor Hammond's ambitious production was the brilliant ten-piece band, led by MD James Tovey. So much so that the kids often struggled to compete, not helped by unsophisticated sound re-inforcement.

The lighting, too, was downright bizarre, almost all from below and the back of the hall.

Some performances shone through, though, including the street-dance boy in the chorus [Samuel Gower?], Louise Haines' Mabel, with her Gospel Weight Loss number, Andy Prideaux's violin prodigy, and Jamie Haines' insufferable Tyrone, “Dancing on the Sidewalk” his finest hour.

Molly Blackmore handled her numbers well, as did Katherine McKeon, striking as the tragic Carmen. Edward Barber, not ideally cast as extrovert Hispanic Joe Vegas, made the most of his opportunities, and I sympathised with irascible music teacher Ben Allen.

Because this very bizarre show – a great success in the West End, I know - is ultimately very depressing, imagining as it does a High School for Performing Arts where the “cream of the crop” have bags of attitude but almost no discipline, where “hating Shakespeare” is no bar to being in the Acting Class, a Sonata can only be improved by adding clichéd lyrics, being gifted in street dance means you have nothing more to learn, and dyslexia can go undiagnosed for years.

I hope it won't be the last musical at Danbury – the enthusiasm and energy on show here deserves to go from strength to strength. But, if you choose another made in the USA, you've got to go for the accents. You've got to stop people wandering aimlessly during their solos. And you've got to say No to people, however keen, who can't hold a tune at all.

REALLY OLD, LIKE FORTY FIVE

Ad Hoc Players at Brentwood Theatre

08.06.11

In the not-too-distant future, slow-moving oldies clog our pavements, dementia is an epidemic.

Tamsin Oglesby's thought-provoking play, first seen at the National last year, sees two groups grapple with the problem.

A sinister government agency, all euphemisms and double-speak: Paul Ganney very impressive in his political speech, and in his downfall [pure poetic justice], Robert Evans as a number-crunching nerd in red braces, and Hayley Joanne Bacon strong as the sceptical rebel.

And an extended family: stoical Alice [Jenny Lee] and her sister, Lyn, a bright, feisty woman slowly succumbing to Alzheimers, a superb performance by Shealagh Dennis. In contrast, the children – Andrew Spong as Dylan, glued to his PlayStation, and Georgina Hayworth as Millie, the thoughtful [and softly spoken] teenager who values the authentic.

The play is not perfect, especially in the rambling second act, and not all the performances were as spot-on as these. I would mention Kirsty Stoddart's impressive robot nurse, and Vicky Nunn, who on opening night did a brilliant job interpreting the action in BSL.

Wendi Sheard's production was a welcome introduction to an important new play; more confidence with the words would have improved its pace and impact, but it was nonetheless an absorbing and original piece of theatre.

BAD DAY AT BLACK FROG CREEK

Phoenix Theatre Company at Christ Church, Chelmsford

11.06.11

Guest director Kenton Church – no stranger to Black Frog Creek and its comedy characters – had an impressive saloon set, with a cleverly-used window by the swing doors, and he had managed to get some credible performances from his cast.

The script glories in bad puns, word play and jokes that were old before the West was won. The key thing with this material – think Round The Horne – is never to be the slightest bit diffident or apologetic. Complicity with the audience is essential. “I'd rather be watching TV, given half a chance,” and I quote.

Outstanding in this respect were Jean Speller's sassy Diamond Tooth Lil, and Joan Lanario's likeable Ma Treacle - “Keep yer eye on me pie!”. Peter White looked good as Filthy Frank, and Les Leeds had a mean Lee Marvin sneer as Tex. Angela Gee gave her all and had a ball with Hairy Hannah, one of the comedy trio of villains.

Richard Langley was engaging as young Yipee Brown, though his performance could have been bigger and bolder, and Neil Smith made a suave Sheriff.

Lots of fun ideas – the varmints nicked with a line of knickers – though sometimes the pace needed to be sharper to get away with the material – the concussed sheriff, for instance.

But a refreshing change for this long-established group, which tends to go for 'comedy thrillers', 'hokum' and 'pot-boilers'. Perhaps next they might try a good modern play …

REBECCA

Cameo Players at Hylands House

05.06.11

The Cameo Players brought their Rebecca – already a success at Little Baddow – to Hylands House last week, in a polished production by Lindsay Lloyd.

Using only a minimal set – not, alas, the imposing staircase in situ - and no stage lighting, this implausible melodrama made a tremendous impact on capacity audiences.

Four great characters come together in the story. Maxim de Winter, the master of Manderley, bringing back his new bride, hoping to forget the past. Darren Matthews was a little young for the role, in truth, but he gave a searingly honest, strong performance, using his voice to suggest the pain behind the suave, stiff exterior. The second Mrs de Winter was played by Sara Thompson; the shy, mousy girl was touchingly suggested, and I liked the way her eyes shone when she hoped to surprise Maxim at the ball, or when she was determined to save him from the hangman's noose. But the foyer talk was all of the sinister Mrs Danvers, given a performance of depth and detail by Vicky Tropman. A still, brooding figure, she dominated the room with a look, a pause, an inflection, and later, as she descended into madness and mania, she obsessively adored the relics of her former mistress, the first Mrs de Winter. And lastly there is the house itself. The technical limitations are outweighed by the sense that these walls have known servants and sorrows, seen masked balls and maybe even murder.

Not all the other characters had much opportunity to shine, and such opportunities as they did have were not always taken. But I did enjoy Catherine Bailey's snobby, bitchy Beatrice, and I admired the uncomfortably intrusive presence of the rotter Jack Favell, stylishly played by Robert Bastian.

Like Thornfield, and Tara, the house is climactically consumed by fire. The moment cried out for special effects, but the impact was preserved by the now deranged Danvers silhouetted against the red glow, and by a glimpse of the shade of Rebecca running towards the West Wing and the oblivion of the flames.

A FAMILY AFFAIR

The Greville Theatre Club at the Barn Theatre Little Easton

03.06.11

“There may be trouble ahead ...” a cheekily anachronistic Tin Pan Alley commentary punctuated Rita Vango's production of this classic Russian farce. Other theatrical touches I admired were the retreat to the gallery of most of the cast, and the monologues to the audience. The beautifully designed programme was great, too.

Nick Dear's adaptation added some ripe language to Ostrovsky's text – think Chekhov done by the cast of East Enders.

The Dickensian characters were mostly well served by the Greville actors; certainly the audience were audibly amused throughout. Were there an award for the most convincing looking Russian, it would have to go to Rodney Foster's Tishka, closely followed by Adam Thompson as Lazar, the timid clerk who reaches the top by wedding the boss's daughter and cashing in on his cunning plan to cheat his creditors.

The shameless Lipochka, who dreams of marrying a military man but is too old for the village idiot, was played for all she was worth by Carol Parradine; her grizzly old bear of a father, a martyr to piles and ulcers, was the excellent Chris Kearney. Good comedic performances too from Marcia Baldry as the Matchmaker, and Steve Braham as the dipso solicitor Sysoy.

“Be content with what you've got” is the message here, since all the swindling schemes come to nothing, and the cast reassembles for the final curtain - “Let's face the music and dance ...”