THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES

THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES

Chelmsford Theatre Workshop

at the Old Court

27.01.16

Eve Ensler's docu-drama is twenty years old now. The world has moved on, and inevitably the piece sounds a little dated in places.
But this revival, directed by Sally Ransom with Ria Milton and given a simple but sophisticated setting in the Old Court, brings out the best in these very varied testimonies; one of the most consistently accomplished productions at this address in recent years. Star cloths around the auditorium, coffee tables and bar stools for the three leading women, red lipstick, red lip cushions on the soft sofas where the supporting cast “relax” before and during the show...
Confident performances in the round from those three leads: Laura Bradley, Kelly McGibney, Caroline Dunsmuir.
They all get under the skin of these anonymous respondents who opened up to Ensler all those years ago – superbly characterized performances. Scathing about “marital therapy” and shaving, holding a mirror up to nature, crying with embarrassment in the women's workshop, poignantly recalling a flood down in the cellar and a Burt Reynolds recurring nightmare, finding heaven with a sapphic secretary, reclaiming the c-word with neat capital letters on the blackboard, giving up tax law for sex work as a moaning dominatrix – variations echoing from all corners of the auditorium – angry about floral perfumes, thongs and invasive medicals. There was much laughter, very little of it embarrassed, entertainment as well as empowerment. Darker moments, too, with the memories of Bosnian rape victims and the homeless.   
The linking passages – quick-fire answers to questions about scent and dress sense – are polished, and bring the audience gently in to the performance. As a prologue, chanteuse Alice Masters does a lovely cabaret set, climaxing with the Mooncup Love Your Vagina song. And there's a specially written piece by Jo Green, very much in the VM style, performed by Gemma Robinson, Anastasia Niamh and Helen Quigley. “He Told Me He Loved Me” highlights the familiar tragic disillusionment of women tricked into sex slavery. Raising awareness of global movement Stop the Traffik. Which we can also support before and after the show with bespoke cocktails, cupcakes and chocolate. Now that does sound like a girls' night out ...

VM selfie by Kelly McGibney; Alice Masters pic courtesy of Ria Milton

THINGS TO COME – SLEEPING BEAUTY BALLET

THINGS TO COME 

– SLEEPING BEAUTY BALLET

Chelmsford's very own ballet company – first formed in 1949 – is bringing this classic ballet back to the Civic in March.
Tchaikovsky's majestic music, Annette Potter's re-working of the original Petipa choreography, outstanding young soloists and the corps de ballet tell the familiar story of the spindle and the kiss, the struggle between good – the Lilac Fairy – and evil – the wicked Carabosse. 

Andrei Iliescu of West End stature will be joining the company as Prince Florimund, Sleeping Beauty's suitor. Andrei performed in McQueen the Play and is a graduate of the prestigious Central School of Ballet in London. Emily Starling of Benfleet is rejoining the company as the Golden Vine Fairy, having trained at Bird College and danced professionally both in the UK and abroad.
Booking now at the Civic Theatre, where the performances run from 16 to 19 March.

MR FOOTE'S OTHER LEG

MR FOOTE'S OTHER LEG

at the Theatre Royal Haymarket

23.01.2016


Last bow for Samuel Foote, and his biographer Ian Kelly, at the Haymarket. The final performance of this Hampstead transfer, almost 240 years since the real Foote walked out of the stage door of his Theatre Royal and into obscurity.
The play tells the crazy but [largely] true story of a born entertainer, stand-up, impressionist, true crime author, impresario, debtor, cross-dresser and friend of the great and the good.
The foul-mouthed backstage banter is amusingly re-created, with much to learn about the evolution of stage performance. Macklin and Garrick play leading roles, Peg Woffington – the first Polly Peachum – is wonderfully done by Dervla Kirwan. And of course we see Foote himself, in a splendid recreation by Simon Russell Beale. Outrageous en travesti, of course, but also vulnerable, both at the moment of his final defeat, and in the excruciating amputation that ends Act One. Wit aplenty, but clever references to the Bard – then, thanks largely to Garrick, undergoing a resurgence. George III gets his Prince Hal moment at the end. Madness recalls Lear, especially in the storm near the end. Jenny Galloway's grumpy, bawdy stage manager, has some Dresser-style reflections on being “the wife in the wings”, scrubbing gussets and making a career out of the worst bits of marriage ...
But this is not just a back-stage drama. We begin in “the charnel house of horrors” - anatomical specimens. And there's politics and philosophy, psychology and medecine. Benjamin Franklin speaks of the mind/brain problem; Foote suffers Locke's phantom limb, and loses his inhibitions after the accident – caused by a foolish royal wager – which also cost him his left leg, and opened up a whole new theatrical genre.
This is a very funny slice of history – directed with a sure hand but a light touch by Richard Eyre, no less. With wonderful designs by Tim Hatley, and beautifully judged performances by a brilliant ensemble. Joseph Millson is a superb David Garrick, and Kelly himself plays an impressive Prince George, later George III – what! What!. And there's a lot to think about, too – sending us to the book, also by Kelly, which preceded the play. But I wish I'd seen it in Hampstead first. Because, marvellous though it was to see Foote back in the Haymarket, though not on his own stage, the production did sometimes struggle to fill Nash's vast auditorium.

THE SEARCH FOR THE HOODEN WILL

THE SEARCH FOR THE HOODEN WILL

Blackmore Players at the Village Hall

21.01.16

for Sardines

A pantomime whodunnit ? One step up from the comedy thriller, and a refreshing change for Blackmore Players' traditional Christmas show.

And home-made through and through. Doubtless countless sparks and sound operators have been convinced they could do a better job than the playwright and the director. But at Blackmore they've gone one further and actually seen it through from page to stage.

Producer Andy Appleton – sound effects – and director Tony Pavitt and Dave Smith – lighting – are the creative team behind The Search for the Hooden Will, a gleeful blend of Dame Agatha and Dame Trott, with sly references to the classics of the murder mystery – not to mention Cluedo – as well as all the panto tropes we rightly expect.

The script has some very clever touches – the supermarket sequence, the ingenious dénouement – as well as a geeky Star Wars moment and a House Song nicked from The Kinks.

Like all the best pantos, it's a gender fluid affair. Patrick Magee is the lady of the manor, and Linda Raymond makes an excellent job of the Chief Inspector, supported by “the cream of the force”: a promising double act from the two coppers Rebecca Smith and Jenny Pavitt, and two cute police dogs, Jean Appleton's endearing Nickel and Christian Vince's puppyish, extrovert Carbon.

Keith Goody has fun switching between the Hood brothers, while Simon Haskell plays “every Tom, Dick and Harry” in support. Barbara Harrold and Martin Herford both bring impressive panto experience to smaller roles. Juliet Ware, Rhys Burrell and Emma Thwaite are the Hood children, with Charley Magee very watchable as the barrow-boy Freddy.

There's a train sequence, of course, a lovely street-scene backcloth, and, best of all, a duet with a phantom projected onto a bed-sheet.

The musical numbers range from the Music Hall – Underneath The Arches works very well – to Suzi Quatro, Born To Be Wild to Ilkley Moor. Where Did You Get That Hat is beautifully choreographed, with a Charleston big finish.

The pace could be slicker, cues picked up quicker. And the stage left exit proves annoyingly awkward [for the cast, too, probably]. But the show is often witty, wacky and clearly delighted the vocally enthusiastic first night crowd: “It's the theatre that people want!”

I don't think I'm giving anything away by revealing that the wedding walk-down is replaced by a jail sentence, and the last line is “Everybody duck!”. But if you want to know whose finger is on the trigger, or what's in the will, or what the Inspector's name might be, you'd need to get one of the few tickets left for this “universal première” or wait for the inevitable movie ...

SWINGING AT THE COTTON CLUB

SWINGING AT THE COTTON CLUB

at the Civic Theatre

22.01.16

The Civic crammed to the rafters for this Cotton Club tribute, aiming to recreate the music and dance of the famous New York hot spot. Featuring not only the sounds of the Harry Strutters Hot Rhythm Orchestra [Octet, to be pedantic] but also the lithe energy of the Jiving Lindy Hoppers.
Two hours of old-fashioned entertainment, evoking the crooners and the hoofers of the Twenties and Thirties. Billie Holliday, Mr Bojangles, Bessie Smith, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald.
Amongst the many highlights: Martin Litton's stride piano, a tap/drums showdown between Lee Payne and the band's powerhouse percussionist Graham Collicott, a breathtaking Charleston masterclass, the One Man Dance trio. And Collicott's impressive Drum Crazy neatly subverted by the boys in the band – paper tearing, clock watching, large print Beano reading ...
The sound system – the least authentic part of the evening – meant that some of singer Marlene Hill's lyrics, the Wrong Keyhole for instance, were hard to hear. Much more successful were her duets with an unplugged instrumentalist. And over-amplification also means that people who need to talk through the music must raise their voices to be heard.
Vocalist host for the evening was Megs Etherington, ragging the band, joining the jiving and treating us to vocal refrains.