UK Theatre Network

If you want a director who can really be said to be in touch with the intentions of a writer, then the Octagon’s artistic director David Thacker has more right than most to claim a special understanding of the work of legendary American playwright Arthur Miller, having collaborated with Miller for over 20 years while staging many productions of his work.

The Price, originally produced in 1968, is set more or less contemporaneously, but the drama has all taken place over 30 years earlier.  Victor Franz, a New York policeman on the brink of retirement, is clearing out the old family apartment because the building is about to be demolished.  The piles of furniture and bric-à-brac have languished there unused for years, a crumbling monument to the Franz family’s wealth and status before the 1929 Crash.  However the dealer who arrives to bid for the residuary estate of Victor’s long-dead father causes Victor, his wife Esther and estranged brother Walter to ask themselves the difficult question: what price can you put on a man’s life? 

With its contained setting, real-time playing and cast of four, The Price is like an intricate piece of chamber music for a quartet of virtuoso players.  David Thacker has assembled an amazing cast that is every bit as good on the stage as it promises to be on paper.

Playing Esther, Victor’s dissatisfied dipsomaniac wife, is Suzan Sylvester who won an Olivier award 20 years ago as the flighty Catharine in Miller’s earlier masterpiece, A View From the Bridge.  Moving on a generation, Suzan Sylvester plays the role with absolutely no self-pity or vanity.  Esther’s flouncing fits, sarcastic put-downs and two-piece suit call to mind a State-side Sybil Fawlty.

RSC actor Tom Mannion makes Victor a benign but impotent presence.  Having lived a life of self-sacrifice, there is definitely a hint of the saint and martyr about him; some of the broken old bits of furniture in the apartment have more animation and self-determination than Victor.  Thus Colin Stinton as his more worldly and successful brother Walter hardly has to assert any of the cold ruthlessness of which his character is accused to appear dynamic and vibrant next to Victor.

And as the comic relief, local legend Kenneth Alan Taylor gives a star turn as the eccentric elderly antique-dealer Gregory Solomon, who proudly proclaims: “I am registered, I am licensed, I am even vaccinated”.

Patrick Connellan’s in-the-round design crucially establishes a bi-polar sense of the items of furniture, ornaments and clothing heaped up round the stage - property that was clearly once beautiful and valuable but which now amounts to little more than salvage purely because of its social and historical context.

An excellent production that is a credit to the Octagon’s artistic team.

The Price is on at Bolton Octagon until Saturday 2 April 2011
Tickets: from £9.50
Eves: Mon-Sat @ 7.30pm
Matinees: Fri 11, Wed 23, Sat 26 March @ 2pm
Box Office: 01204 520661
www.octagonbolton.co.uk

There’s never a shortage of Noel Coward revivals at The Royal Exchange, but after a string of Hay Fevers and Blithe Spirits along comes Michael Buffong’s first-rate production of Private Lives which is in another class altogether.

This is probably due to the peerless cast. Even on paper the thought of Exchange favourite Simon Robson playing opposite an actress as fabulous as Imogen Stubbs is enough to make any theatre-goer’s mouth water. On a purely technical level, their natural ease with this style of writing enables them to create three-dimensional characters who have meaningful conversations, rather than paper-thin caricatures exchanging brittle one-liners. Suddenly the depths of Coward’s comedy are exposed, and the actors’ pleasure in playing with the language is evident.

As well as mastering their own roles, Messrs Robson and Stubbs forge a fantastic stage partnership. Imogen Stubbs’s Amanda is flirtatious, flighty and funny, and makes this often appalling character actually very appealing. Simon Robson’s patrician Elyot is far more serious and stolid, yet this works well against the mercurial Amanda. Their scenes together in the Paris flat are a tour-de-force, and the disparity in their sizes spices up the rampant physicality of their performances. Thanks to choreographer Coral Messam and fight director Kate Waters the no-holds-barred bouts of fisticuffs and fornication are almost balletic. And I’ll never forget the beautiful interlude at the piano where Elyot seduces Amanda, and the whole audience along with her.

Joanna Page, who has proved her comedy chops over three series of Gavin and Stacey but who is almost unrecognisable here in a peroxide wig and frumpy suit, chivvies up the frequently thankless role of Sibyl; and Clive Hayward gives us a cowardly blustering Victor, who poses as a knight in shining armour but is more concerned with righting the furniture than righting wrongs. Even Rose Johnson as the disdainful French maid turns her brief appearance into a brilliant cameo of clowning and contempt.

Designer Ellen Cairns reinterprets the hotel balcony of act 1 as a box-hedged terrace which facilitates some of the funniest eavesdropping scenes since Much Ado About Nothing, and the sequence of negligees, gowns and playsuits she dreams up for Amanda are to die for.

After last year’s award-winning take on A Raisin in the Sun, director Michael Buffong triumphs yet again. Frankly this production has “west end transfer” written all over it - get your tickets while you can.

Private Lives

Prices £9-£30

Evenings: Mon-Fri @ 7.30, Sat @ 8pm

Matinees: Wed @ 2.30, Sat @ 4pm

Box Office: 0161 833 9833

 

 

 

 

　

is on until Saturday 9 April 2011www.royalexchange.co.uk

reviewed by Richard Howell-Jones

Sisters are doin’ it for themselves!

 

We, of course, already know this, but to Ibsen’s audience the very idea of such a concept would have been shocking, outrageous, unthinkable; hence the power of A Doll’s House, now playing at the Lowry until 12^th March.

 

From today’s perspective, we can see how Ibsen lulled his audience into a false state of contentment, the not-too-bright but devoted wife led into error by her own devotion and rescued at the last moment by the love and forgiveness of others. Except that the story doesn’t end there as she makes sense of her experience and the happy ending suddenly crashes and burns – or, if you prefer, the sentimentally-predictable suddenly becomes raw and unknown, with the howling winds of freedom sounding a wake-up clarion to the oppressed.

 

Discuss. But what’s interesting about Chris Honer’s production, of a new adaptation by Bryony Lavery, is how it manages to preserve the impact of that unexpected ending while not needing to go too far down the road of modernisation. Granted, there are one or two contemporary phrases which sit uncomfortably with a cast dressed in period tails and bustles, but there’s a feeling that this is a new play, even when one knows it isn’t.

         

The cast, of course, makes this work. Ken Bradshaw’s Torvald is a very personable and likeable chauvinist, clearly an intelligent man who loves but doesn’t understand; without him, played as he is, Nora’s epiphany cannot make sense. And Emma Cunliffe pulls this off beautifully, her Nora delightfully hooked on macaroons and proud of her secret machination, yet seeming not the brightest bulb on the tree, convincingly growing through her emotional journey into an individual woman, slightly bewildered still but nevertheless certain of her actions. In a piece that could so easily be just more man-bashing, these two achieve a near-perfect portrayal of how good intentions just aren’t enough.

         

The rest of the cast propel them to this vital ending with unerring precision. Mrs Linde seemed very peculiar at first, almost an automaton, before it became clear that it was her hard experiences which had made her so. It could be difficult then to allow her to soften as she must without contrivance, yet Sarah Ball manages this effortlessly. Paul Barnhill’s Krogstad, clearly a bitter man with nothing to lose and seemingly no redeeming features, applies exactly the right pressure to get things moving; it’s a pleasant surprise to find later that he is a human being after all. Daniel Brocklebank enjoys himself as Dr. Rank but not too much, while Verity-May Henry (Helene) and Roberta Kerr (Anne-Marie) provide exactly the correct degree of servant support, a period detail hard to achieve.

 

A niggle occurs when the children arrive: their performances are flawless, but one is forced to assume that the Helmers believe in adoption.

 

The only other concern was the intrusive and unnecessary background music, doubtless intended to ensure the audience knew how Nora felt. But Emma Cunliffe needs no irritating drone to tell us this and, no, I don’t mean Torvald.

 

This production, overall, takes what could be a stagy old suffragette and shows that she’s still a fresh young woman with her own ideas, exactly as Ibsen intended. Updated yet perfectly preserved.

 

A Doll’s House, the Manchester Library Theatre Company,

at the Lowry Theatre from 24^th February to 12^th March.

 

Tickets: 0843-208 6010 or www.librarytheatre.com

Domestic Bliss, Roy Knowles’ biting satire on contemporary northern working-class life, has finally made it to a full-length fully-staged production after being work-shopped at Oldham Coliseum, semi-staged at the Not Part of Festival’s Sitcom Shorts show in 2009, and receiving a rehearsed reading at last year’s 24:7 Theatre Festival.

The process of development - and possibly the help of director Matthew Gould - has transformed the sketchy (if hilarious) premise into a fully-fledged comedy drama.

Hard-working but hide-bound Les and his kind but ditzy wife Jean think they already have enough on their plates with slacker son Mark and mouthy daughter Dawn. That’s until they decide to spend the evening unwinding in front of another scandalous episode of Danny Funckle, Agony Uncle (a format not unrelated to The Jeremy Kyle Show if DNA tests are to be believed) and discover that Shelly, the show’s latest dysfunctional wannabe WAG, is claiming that Mark is the father of her new baby…

John Howarth as comic foil Les and Sharon Heywood as doting grandmother Jean mine the play’s potential for drama and pathos, and Gemma Flannery’s Dawn and Matthew Melbourne’s Mark relish the sardonic one-liners, while Zoe Iqbal is fabulous as short-skirted, loose-moralled Shelly, the none-too-doting mother of bouncing fourteen-pound baby Hollyblossomlouise (named after her Nana and a paint advert on the telly).

Where Domestic Bliss really scores theatrical points is with the semi-surreal interplay between the scenes in the TV studio and the live reaction in the Tyler family’s front room. This is partly because the author turns the confession show’s sensationalist format into a recurring joke that brilliantly develops through the story. But mainly it’s because the stage is lit up by Liam Tims’ charismatic performance as the vain, self-important, counterfeit-caring TV presenter - his spontaneous interaction with the (real live) audience and witty ad libs were the icing on the cake.

Incidentally, this was my first theatre trip to the Nexus Art Café in Manchester‘s Trendy Northern Quarter (© Manchester City Council), which is a fantastic performance space as well as boasting squishy sofas, lovely coffee and tempting home-made cakes.

I can’t predict what the next development will be for Domestic Bliss, but if its previous incarnations are anything to go by it will be a tremendous success.

Domestic Bliss  is on until Friday 25 February 2011 at Nexus Art Café, 2 Dale Street, Manchester M1 1JW - www.nexusartcafe.com

Tickets (£7/£5) on the door or in advance from : www.ibookedit.com (no booking fee)

Shakespeare’s timeless tale of star-cross’d lovers has been updated by director David Thacker to a world of streetwise, knife-wielding gangs and super-rich, Gucci-clad capitalists.  At first glance the conflict seems not to be so much the old family grudge between the Montagues and Capulets as the generational divide between grungy, dressed-down youths who stalk the city’s streets and their sharply-suited, buttoned-up parents.  Even the Nurse is all lipstick and designer labels.  No wonder isolated only-child Juliet is attracted to the first jeans-and-t-shirt boy she meets - a far cry from the balding, middle-aged bloke her parents have in mind for her husband.

To say this production is in-the-round and set on a bare stage doesn’t begin to do justice to the way the creative team have used the auditorium, managing to be both intimate (when the action is focused on the naked stage) and vast (when the stairs and rear-walkways are lit up).  Ciaran Bagnall’s lighting design is a character in its own right, and the simple but effective way he creates a starry night sky in a black box theatre is a tiny miracle.  The sheer simplicity of designer Ruari Murchison’s set and balcony is a great achievement, like the RSC’s glory days at the Barbican Pit Theatre.

This technical backbone allows director David Thacker to create one of the slickest, fastest-paced productions around; scene melts into scene seamlessly, props are silently spirited away, the actors make music live on stage, and characters suddenly appear among the audience - it’s a fully immersive event.

David Ricardo-Pearce and Jade Anouka avoid the temptation to play the iconic roles of Romeo and Juliet as tragic figures (which they aren’t, until the end).  They rediscover the story by extracting every bit of meaning from the text, and even the famous speeches of the balcony scene sound like brand new dialogue.  Theirs isn’t a poetic portrayal of eternal lovers but a modern take on teenage relationships.

Rob Edwards as the pin-striped, cigar-chomping Capulet is both urbane and ruthless - he speaks the verse beautifully and is convincing as both an indulgent father and a tyrannical paterfamilias.  Paula Jennings’ impassive and self-contained Lady Capulet suggests a trophy wife who’s either extensively self-medicating with gin or who has overdone the botox.

Michelle Collins is very funny as a coutured Cockney nurse, and Lloyd Gorman’s attractive and confident portrayal of Benvolio turns a minor character into a pivotal role, while Colin Connor’s muscular-Christian Friar Lawrence is a potent presence and his Irish accent works like a charm with the Elizabethan language.

This is a full-bodied and exciting modern-dress classic that doesn’t patronise its audience.  Let’s hope for some more Shakespeare at the Octagon soon.

 

Romeo and Juliet is on at Bolton Octagon until Saturday 5 March 2011

Tickets: from £9.50

Eves: Mon-Sat @ 7.30pm

Matinees: Fri 4, Wed 23 & Sat 26 Feb 2pm

Box Office: 01204 520661

www.octagonbolton.co.uk

Vivienne Franzmann was a joint winner of the 2009 Bruntwood playwriting competition, and her winning script Mogadishu is now being premiered in the Royal Exchange’s main house.

In contrast with the exotic title (a fleeting reference to middle-class teenage gap years) the setting is a present-day inner-city school where a black schoolboy’s assault on a white female teacher becomes bizarrely twisted into an allegation of violence and racism by her on him.  

Mogadishu is part examination of the downside of political correctness (cf David Edgar’s 2008 Testing the Echo, coincidentally also directed by Matthew Dunster), and part illustration of the devastating consequences when a lie gets out of control (also themes in The Children’s Hour and The Crucible).  However because the playwright’s intentions are entirely invested in exonerating the teacher there is never any ambiguity in the drama (the events are clearly laid out in the first scene), and while the tragic back-stories flesh out the characters and provide some moments of tension they don’t raise the overall stakes.  

I might have felt more emotionally involved if Vivienne Franzmann’s central character, the supposedly experienced, dedicated and savvy teacher Amanda, hadn’t been the least believable character on stage.  Even when played with as much conviction as an excellent actor like Julia Ford can muster, Amanda’s naivety, credulity and apparent unfamiliarity with school, local authority and child protection procedures beggar belief.

However I have nothing but praise for Matthew Dunster’s fast-paced and spirited production, and the acting is universally brilliant.  The versatile Ian Bartholomew excels yet again as a harassed, crumpled, spiritually beige head-teacher, while Fraser James and Christian Dixon are sympathetic as parents of difficult adolescents.

However the evening is stolen by the school children, a group of diverse, recognisable and memorable characters that would do credit to Shakespeare.  Malachi Kirby is mesmerising as Jason, the confused, vulnerable and seemingly amoral man-child, easily switching between chilling school bully and browbeaten son.  The comically nerdy Firat (Michael Karim) and passionate goth Becky (Shannon Tarbet) are also fine, contrasting well with Jason’s streetwise and cynical gang (Farshid Rokey, Tendayi Jembere, Tara Hodge, Savannah Gordon-Liburd and Hammed Animashaun).

Tom Scutt’s design of a revolving stage encircled by a high mesh cage is a massive sight-line problem if you’re not watching from the gods, and the whole-scale switching of sets between scenes (something of a Dunster trademark) is a distraction, but while Mogadishu is not an especially thought-provoking or revealing play it is still a thoroughly enjoyable evening at the theatre.

 

Mogadishu is on until Saturday 19 February 2011

Prices: £9-£30

Evenings: Mon-Fri @ 7.30pm; Sats @ 8pm

Matinees: Weds @ 2.30pm; Sats @ 4pm

Box Office: 0161 833 9833

www.royalexchange.co.uk

 

The Royal Exchange is usually a pantomime-free zone come Christmas time - but they’ve broken the mould this year with a Lancashire-set “Cinderella Circa 1910” by Harold “Hobson’s Choice” Brighouse.  And in the best gender role reversal tradition of panto, Cinderella is played by a boy.

 Zack is a distinctly unheroic hero - a gormless innocent with a big heart whose lack of social airs make him an embarrassment to his aspiring petit-bourgeois family.  After a lifetime of emotional neglect and constant criticism inflicted by his battleaxe mother, Mrs Munning, and miserly brother, Paul, they’ve even sacked him from his job in the family catering firm because his only suit (a hand-me-down from his dead dad) has worn to rags.

 Enter Zack’s Fairy Godmother-cum-Prince(ss) Charming, in the form of beautiful and rich cousin Virginia, who immediately sees what’s going on - until the artful Paul, scheming mother, and some sexual misadventures on Zack’s part convince her otherwise.

 If you’re familiar with the film career of George Formby then you’ll immediately be at home with this style of gentle northern comedy, where the unlikely protagonist wins out despite nothing to recommend him but a mixture of good humour and pathos.  Zack is played by local comedian Justin Moorhouse - for those unfamiliar with his work, he’s the guy you’d ring if you couldn’t get Johnny Vegas - and he’s certainly “got a gift for jollification”, as well as eliciting several choruses of “ahhh” from the audience when his fortunes fall.

 Pearce Quigley’s Eeyore-ish Paul is as drippy as his lank moustache (“there isn’t a woman on earth worth buying roses for at sixpence a bloom”), while Polly Hemingway as their mother nicely catches the sharp-tongued quality of the aspiring lower-middle-class (“your ways would make a cat laugh”).

 Greg Hersov’s production finds the anarchic nature of “Lancy” humour in the comparatively small roles of dirt poor Martha Wrigley (played with all the spirit of an Eliza Doolittle by Samantha Power) and the bogus servant Sally Teale (rendered with an hilarious lack of deference by Michelle Tate).

 Although Hobson’s Choice is Harold Brighouse’s greatest hit and a deservedly iconic play, Zack is also an enjoyable example of the work of the Manchester School of Playwrights - and even the panto-averse won’t object to its fairytale happy ending.

  Zack is on until Saturday 22 January 2011

Prices: £9-£30

Evenings: Mon-Fri @ 7.30 (not 24 Dec); Sats @ 8pm

Matinees: Weds @ 2.30pm (also Tues 21 & Fri 24 Dec); Sats @ 4pm (& Mon 27 Dec)

Box Office: 0161 833 9833

www.royalexchange.co.uk

Reviewed byRichard Howell-Jones

           Charles Dickens caught the spirit of Christmas so well with his original tale of the redemption of Scrooge that further interpretation is neither necessary nor desirable. Happily, then, the Manchester Library Theatre Company’s production of A Christmas Carol stays true to the letter as well as the intent of this, arguably Dickens’ most popular work.

          A strong and experienced cast portray the characters we know and love with every evidence of enjoyment, striking a chord with an audience composed almost entirely of school children - and on a Monday morning too! David Beames’ Scrooge glued the entire production together as the other actors, multiply cast, swirled through his life and showed him the error of his ways, led by Abigail McGibbon (Christmas Past), Kath Burlinson (Christmas Present) and a startling Christmas Yet To Come of whom Gary McCann (Designer) should be justly proud. Paul Barnhill’s Fred Scrooge, the old man’s nephew, drives his middle-class scenes with the same intensive Peace and Goodwill to All that Jack Lord provides as the poverty-stricken Bob Cratchit. Claude Close’s Jacob Marley is just plain scary, a fascinating contrast to his jolly generous Fezziwig. Geoff Steer (Choreographer) gave the ensemble plenty to do but managed to make it seem impromptu, matched by a set of appropriate carol-based songs from Conor Mitchell, culminating in a courageous, and at times impressive, piece based on Handel’s Unto Us a Child is Born.

          Of course, everyone knows that children make a tough house. As soon as the house-lights rose for the interval, several wanted to know why Scrooge had changed colour from brown to white as he got older. This was adroitly handled by one of the accompanying adults who suggested that he’d become paler as he spent more time indoors; whether or not this was the intention, it casts no shadow on Darren Kuppen, whose teenage Scrooge cleverly captured the point of his downfall, and who also entertained as the perhaps appropriately-named Tupper, Fred’s roving-eyed guest. Another query was how Marley’s hat had been so wicked as to deserve the great length of chain which festooned it, when Marley himself seemed quite lightly burdened by comparison. And, unfortunately, Tiny Tim, seeming healthier than Dickens intended and having the wrong sort of trouble with his limp, was held to be less than convincing.

          As far as the adults were concerned, there was only one criticism: that the production seemed curiously muted, as if reluctant to upset or disturb. Granted it’s intended for a family audience, but Scrooge’s character here hadn’t far to travel from miser to benefactor. The catch-phrase ‘Humbug!’ lacked conviction and his ill will towards Cratchit’s desire to take all Christmas day off might have resulted from a headache. This was really the flaw, for without clearly-seen malice there can be no great redemption – all one gets is a man in a good mood, having been in a bad one. This has the further effect of making Cratchit’s amazement at his employer’s change seem overdone, which is unjust.

          But these are pips in the Christmas orange, inconvenient but scarcely detracting from the enjoyment. From simple beginnings, the performance builds in intensity to a joyous and confidently complex finale, subtly led by Performance Musical Director, Isobel Waller-Bridge, leaving its audience with a worthy, perhaps timely, reminder of the true spirit of Christmas. Rachel O’Riordan directed.

 

A Christmas Carol byManchester Library Theatre Company is at The Lowry until 8 January 2011

Prices: £12.50 - £16.15

Box Office:0843 208 6010

Performance schedule & online booking: www.librarytheatre.com or www.thelowry.com

 

Charles Dickens’ much-loved semi-autobiographical novel David Copperfield has been magically transformed into a lively musical drama by the same talented writing partnership which was responsible for the Octagon’s fantastic Oliver Twist last year.

The first person narrative voice of the novel is so strong that playwright Deborah McAndrew has embraced it by letting the older David (Geoff Breton) tell his own story while watching and joining in with his younger self (played by one of the talented local youngsters specially recruited for the show). Geoff Breton takes on this huge role with boundless energy and enthusiasm, and remains charming and engaging throughout in spite of young David’s occasionally less than heroic behaviour.  The vast troop of iconic characters that people the work - among them Mr Micawber (Tobias Beer), Betsey Trotwood and Peggotty (Ruth Alexander Rubin), Ham and Mr Dick (Lloyd Gorman), and Uriah Heep and Steerforth (Jake Norton) - are shared between seven quick-changing adult actors who are also responsible for the live, practically non-stop musical accompaniment.

Deborah McAndrew and composer Conrad Nelson have outdone themselves with their inventive lyrics and music - folk dances, sea shanties, school songs, even a parody of a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song all set the audience’s toes tapping.

Designer Lucy Sierra has come up with costumes which are luscious and evocative - her lively tableau of David’s Salem House schooldays reminded me of Thomas Webster's painting "The Boy with Many Friends" in Bury Art Gallery - and the War Horse-style puppets, including a memorable donkey, are charming.

Director Elizabeth Newman does not always get her cast to differentiate strongly between their multiple characters, but the pace is always energetic; and musical director (and actress) Barbara Hockaday draws excellent musical and instrumental performances from the entire ensemble.

 

David Copperfield is on at Bolton Octagon until Saturday 15 January 2011

Tickets: from £8.50-£18.50

Performances Mon-Sat (for dates see website)

Eves @ 7.15pm; Matinees @ 10.15am & 2.15pm

Box Office: 01204 520661

www.octagonbolton.co.uk

Jeffrey Bernard was one of the free spirits of fifties Fitzrovia, a drinking chum of Dylan Thomas, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, John Le Mesurier and the bohemian circle which later converged around the Coach and Horses pub in Soho.  His sordid goings on were chronicled in The Spectator’s “Low Life” column from 1975 till his death some 20 years later, and fellow journalist and imbiber Keith Waterhouse dramatised some of these anecdotes for a 1989 hit show originally starring Peter O’Toole.

Jeffrey, played by here by Phil Dennison, finds himself accidentally locked into the Coach and Horses overnight, and passes the time by reminiscing about the colourful characters he’s encountered over the decades (played by a quick-changing, quick-witted cast of four).

The first thing to say is that this is an absolute tour de force by Phil Dennison, who has us spellbound for two hours with his authentic but beguiling portrait of the seedy, alcoholic raconteur.  The whistling teeth, sunken cheeks and trembling hands are small but telling details.  The conversational and confessional style of the piece are so well-suited to the intimacy of Studio Salford - fittingly a room above a pub - that Mr Dennison’s Jeffrey seems to address every member of the audience individually, holding us with his glittering eye like a slightly more convivial version of the Ancient Mariner.

The supporting cast - Edward Barry, Simon Griffiths, Zoe Matthews and Samantha Vaughan - bring to life the assorted pub landlords, angry editors, bar-room philosophers, gamblers, boozers and wives that Jeffrey engages with during his sozzled and slightly existential existence. 

However when Keith Waterhouse tops and tails the action with a rhapsodic tribute to our eponymous hero by his old Soho friend, the poet Elizabeth Smart (played by Kirsty Fox), we realise that the play is a love letter from Waterhouse, not just to Jeffrey, but to the whole drinking, smoking, betting, fighting, womanising, throwing-up, throwing-out, passing-out, long-past culture of London W1.

Gayle Hare’s production for Organised Chaos is a fantastic achievement from a clearly confident young company and well worth seeing.

 

Evenings: 17-20 Nov @ 8pm

Tickets: £7 (£5 conc) from www.studiosalford.com

 

Studio Salford (Above The Kings Arms)

11 Bloom Street

Salford, M3 6AN)

www.organisedchaosproductions.co.uk

www.studiosalford.com