UK Theatre Network

Peter Pan
Northern Ballet Theatre
Reviewed 20th April 2010




First and foremost this is a beautiful production. David Nixon's artistic direction has never failed to impress. Since his arrival in 2001 the NBT has been revitalised and is now known for producing new works including the stupendous Wuthering Heights that toured last year, as well as productions such as Madame Butterfly, Dracula, and The Nutcracker to name but a few. What makes these productions so special is the creative choreography  - Nixon's area of expertise. This production does not disappoint. It is quirky, contemporary, dynamic, poetic and very, very moving in places. It is undeniably recognisable as Nixon's work.
Nixon is also reponsible for the costumes, which in this production are very faithful to the traditional images of the Peter Pan story. Tinker Bell's attire has a slight twist in that it is rather sexy; short and with a fabulous pair of french knickers!
So, this production is very faithful to the original story and nothing unfamiliar or new is introduced. 
Composer, Steven Warbeck, has produced a quite lovely score. Warbeck has an interesting history. Among the films he has scored are Shakespeare in Love (for which he won an Oscar), Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Mrs Brown, and Billy Elliot. Nixon's choreography and Warbeck's composition sit very well together.
Peter Mumford's staging is inventive and the lighting is particularly effective. The nursery set though was rather shaky and rickety at times.
The flying is, of course, magical and the scene, The Stars, when all the children fly over London and the sea is stunning. 
Overall the performances are strong and in some cases exemplary - Pippa Moore has a true gift for expression and bringing a character to life. As Wendy she needs to be completely believeable as a young girl and her performance is utterly absorbing. Her brothers, John (Sebastian Loe) and Michael (Jeremy Curnier) are equally charming, and believable in their cheeky, mischievous depictions. They are responsible for some of the 'laughs' but the majority of these go to Nana (Victoria Sibson) and the Crocodile (Daniel Clarke). David Ward as Peter Pan is charming if perhaps a little too 'manly' for the part.



There are two weak areas with this particular production. Firstly, the pirates and Captain Hook (Kenneth Tindall) and secondly, the use of spoken language.
First to the pirates and Hook; they are not at all menacing. Tindall also plays Mr Darling and this character is rightly played as benign, loving, kind and gentle. The problem for me was that he really wasn't scary or even dynamic enough as Hook. His face was impassive throughout. I can't believe this was the way he was directed as the other pirates were fairly animated facially. If we are in the world of dreams and fantasy then perhaps the 'baddies' are intended to be portrayed as fairly one dimensional characters. However, in terms of what an audience expects from a traditional recounting of the tale I see Tindall's Hook as somewhat lacking. His choreography was demanding but Tindall just did not seem to be engaged with his character. I am a fan of Tindall but perhaps he is just not suited to this part. It was all rather 'soft' and lacklustre. There seemed to be no power behind his character. 
The second area is the use of speech in a couple of areas. In particular when Tinker Bell, who is brilliantly portrayed by Michela Paolacci, drinks the poisoned medicine and begins to die. Here, suddenly, Peter Pan turns to the audience and asks 'Do you believe in fairies?' and 'If you believe in fairies clap your hands'. Of course, being an obliging British audience we do and Tinker Bell comes to life. This moment is incongrous. Up until now we have been observers of a magical story. To be suddenly forced into panto mode is really quite bizarre. Perhaps it was expected that there would be a majority of children in the audience but I appeared to be the only one with a child in tow. It was a school night and there must be a higher quota of children in the audience at weekends. However, we don't need audience participation and it did not sit well with the production overall.
Overall, though, this production is well worth a visit and I would recommend it as an ideal introduction to the ballet genre for young children.

Peter Pan plays MK Theatre until Saturday 24th April (box office 0870 297 5454/www.ambassadortickets.com. Booking fee applies)

Norwich Theatre Royal 27 April - 1 May

16 April – 8 May
Sense and Sensibility

Ending a short run of male domination at the Queen’s, Matt Hewitt’s production of Sense and Sensibility by Roger Parsley and Andy Graham introduces Jane Austen’s humorous world of Regency society complete with swooning and irrational females in empire silhouettes and dashing, eligible bachelors in pantaloons and flannel waistcoats. Norman Coates’ set depicts the elegant rooms of country and city homes of the period boasting tall white columns, clean striped furniture, floor to ceiling windows and chandeliers, all overlooked by the projection of countryside vistas and city streets framed on the back wall.

After the death of their father, the Dashwood sisters, Elinor (Francesca Loren) and Marianne (Pam Jolley) are left in financial difficulty. Their half brother, John and wife Fanny are left the family home and the sisters, who are daughters of their father’s second wife, are left with a minor share. They move to Devon to stay with their distant Aunt Jennings (Karen Mann).  Upon their arrival the match making Aunt Jennings insists on finding them husbands, she pops up at crucial moments with gossip and information on potential partners and cackles rather too pantomimic at times in her excitement. Pam Jolley is more than endearing as Marianne who, blind with love, follows Willoughby to London (played by Elliot Harper, who switches so brilliantly from Edward Ferrars to Willoughby I thought there was someone missing in the final line up)  only to find he is engaged to someone far richer than her.  Jolley’s comical facial expressions when illustrating her distaste of other characters and minor tantrums when not getting her own way are highly amusing.  As Marianne swoons in lovesickness, she is pursued by the shy but patient Colonel Brandon, (played cautiously by Marcus Webb, as he almost creeps onto the stage and disappears again) who nurses her back to health. There is a haunting moment quite reminiscent of Wizard of Oz where during Marianne’s unconsciousness the faces and voices of the characters in her head are projected onto the large framed screen like a dream sequence, brilliant! Francesca Loren is charming as the refined and restrained Elinor, curbing the high pitch voice that tends to seep from the other more excitable characters. She is in love with Edward Ferrars who it is revealed, is engaged to a money hungry Lucy Steele.  (Sarah Scowen cleverly gives her a sweetly spoken dreadfulness)  Elinor remains in control of her emotions throughout, although she is broken hearted, she gives all her support to her younger and more naïve sister.  As typical of Austen, the characters fall in love at the drop of a hat and the storyline reveals faulted personalities, misconstructions, uncomfortable situations, and eventually, a resolution of all the above laced with marriage proposals. 

This production is beautifully tied together throughout scene changes by the powerfully sweet voice of Sarah Scowen and stunning voice of Pam Jolley as they sing delicate pieces accompanied by the flute, piano and cello all played by members of the cast.  A wholly engaging, pleasant, funny  and enjoyable evening brought together by convincing characters, innovative set and great costumes.

Cast

Marianne Dashwood – Pam Jolley

Elinor Dashwood – Francesca Loren

Edward Ferrars – Elliot Harper

Aunt Jennings – Karen Mann

Colonel Brandon – Marcus Webb

Willoughby – Elliot Harper

Lucy Steele – Sarah Scowen

Director – Matt Devitt

Designer – Norman Coates

Lighting Designer – Andy Lewis

Musical arrangements – Julian Littman

Listings

16 April – 8 May

Sense and Sensibility

by Roger Parsley and Andy Graham

adapted from the novel by Jane Austen

Previews: 16 and 17 Apr at 8pm                      

First Night: Mon 19 Apr at 7.30pm

Performances: Tue–Sat at 8pm

Matinees: Sat 1 May and Thurs 6 May at 2.30pm

Audio Described & Signed Performance: Sat 1 May at 2.30pm

The Queen’s Theatre, Billet Lane, Hornchurch RM11 1QT

Tube: Hornchurch                                                       

Tickets: £13.50 - £22

Box Office:               01708 443333         01708 443333                                           

Website: www.queens-theatre.co.uk

A text for tonight.  Perhaps we can’t all be Max Bygraves.  But we can try.

You’re an aspiring stand-up comedian; you’ve been coming to this evening class in a rundown FE college in Manchester every week for months; you’ve absorbed the wise words of the tutor, one-time bill-topper Eddie Waters, “The Lancashire Lad”; you’ve taken his advice about being honest, true, compassionate and working through the laughs not for the laughs; you’ve honed your act, practised at home, learned the lines: now it’s the big night when you’re performing an open spot at the local Working Men’s Club and secretly hoping to impress that agent from The Smoke, Bert Challenor, who’s in the audience supposedly just to assess your work but who might offer you a route to the big time and an escape from your miserable life. 

And then Bert gives you a tip-off: all he wants is gags. 

So do you scrap your act and try to remember as many near-the-knuckle one-liners and Christmas cracker jokes as possible in an attempt to ingratiate yourself with the man handing out the contracts?  Or do you stay loyal to your art, and Eddie?

Although Trevor Griffiths’ 1975 play is astonishingly specific in its period and locale, it couldn’t be more topical at a time when the biggest names in stand-up can sell out arenas, and Manchester is teeming with classes ranging from the improv games of Comedy Sportz to a BA (Hons) Comedy: Writing and Performance at Salford University.  And although the politically correct alternative comedians of the 1980s were supposed to have killed off the bigoted world view epitomised by Bernard Manning, not only have those frilly-shirted, bow-tied gag-merchants come back to enjoy a post-modern popularity, but the new breed of stand-ups are constantly crossing the lines of taste and decency with their “ironic” reclaiming of the offensive.

The playwright assembles a group of comic stereotypes, including a Jew and two types of Irishman, just like the set-up for a shaggy dog story, but David Thacker’s excellent actors transform them into completely rounded human beings while retaining the flavour of their archetypal origins. 

John Branwell is brilliant as Cockney wide-boy agent Bert Challenor, a salty cynic who believes in aiming for the lowest common denominator, and Richard Moore makes a fine contrast as the lugubrious and slightly tragic tutor Eddie. 

While all the comic wannabees are clearly drawn and well-detailed, Mark Letheren as Phil Murray, the born straight man, gives the most unselfish and thankless performance of the evening; for a gifted actor to take half-funny lines and kill them stone dead takes real skill as well as self-sacrifice.

Even the tiny roles are a delight: Howard Ward doubles up as the grumpy college Caretaker and virtuosic club pianist, and Simon Nagra plays lost student Mr Patel like a bemused Lou Costello.

Kieran Hill as the iconic Gethin Price is big, beautiful and just a touch camp.  When he reveals his Mohican-style shaved head and thick white greasepaint, the intended homage to Grock the clown smacks more of a character who has escaped from Taboo: The Boy George Musical.  At this point you realise that his turn isn’t comedy but performance art, and that even if he never plays Hulme Hippodrome he only has to wait for the Greenroom to open 1983 to be showered with Arts Council funding.

Helen Goddard’s design cleverly switches from a frighteningly accurate reconstruction of a down-at-heel 1970s classroom, (even the square metal dustbin is an authentic period piece) to a seedy northern club with a low-rent compère (Russell Richardson).

Seeing Comedians is like coming across the final episode of a six-part sit-com where all the characters have long been established and the grand climax has no context or emotional resonance for the casual viewer; and for a play about comedy it’s surprisingly unfunny.  However David Thacker’s enjoyable, well-paced and superbly acted production is highly recommended - for the drama, if not the laughs.

Comedians is on at Bolton Octagon until Saturday 8 May 2010

Tickets: from £9.00

Eves: Mon-Sat @ 7.30

Matinees: Fri 16, Sat 17, Mon 19, Sat 24 and Wed 28 Apr @ 2pm  

www.octagonbolton.co.uk

We’re all screwed!

Inkling Media Productions present their new one-act-play as lunch time theatre. Lunch time passed much too quickly and left me hungry for more: Big Shoe is great comedy, sometimes bordering on the farcical, with wonderful actors and an extremely witty script by Warren Drew.

Big Shoe actually stands for The Big Issue – the magazine sold in the streets by the less fortunate so the more fortunate can buy it with “smug satisfaction” and place it on their desks at work – cover up. Stanley is one of those sellers and the first person he targets on this unpleasant, rainy day in Brighton is the Londoner Tim who is desperately trying to find the Mandarin Hotel. Tim does not have any change and is only interested in finding his hotel. Stanley is not discouraged by Tim’s refusal and promises him that he will be back. Meanwhile he keeps trying to sell the magazine to the audience: “Give it to your child when he has been naughty!” When Tim inevitably returns after having looked for the hotel everywhere Stanley offers to point him to the tourist office if he buys a magazine for £10.  Tim is so desperate that he agrees. Yet by the time Tim has handed over the money the tourist office is closed! Stanley is not so inclined to return the £10 but he will treat Tim to a cup of tea.  He takes him to a dingy café whose owner – Cheryl – obviously has encountered Stanley before. She does not say much but her piercing stare expresses far more than words ever could. Stanley is completely unfazed by Cheryl’s behaviour and the complete lack of service in the cafe. He asks Tim what he thinks is the most fascinating thing about this place. Tim replies: “That it is called a restaurant?” No, there is a picture of the Holy Virgin Mary on the ceiling of the Gents! Even the Pope’s legate came to see it! Stanley lures Tim into the men’s room but he does not want to show Tim the Virgin Mary – whose picture has miraculously moved to the floor. He is up to something far more outrageous and quite sinister. However, Stan’s plan is rudely interrupted by the appearance of John who would like Stan to pay back his gambling debts and is willing to use excessive violence as a means of persuasion.  

Big Shoe is a hilarious and clever production, skillfully directed by Jaclyn McLoughlin, fast paced, with a wonderful ensemble – Alex Gatehouse as the not so cunning Stanley, Phineas Pett as the nervously aggressive Tim, Jean Apps as the shrewd Cheryl, and Anthony Coleridge as Stan’s nemesis John.

 
The show is now finished but evening performances are likely to be scheduled towards the end of May and in June 2010.  

King’s Head Theatre

115 Upper Street
Islington
London N1 1QN

http://www.kingsheadtheatre.org

It seems only fitting that the Lyceum should finish its season with Chekhov’s final play. After all 2010 is the 150th anniversary of Chekhov’s birth and Edinburgh’s Traverse theatre recently staged Three Sisters, the third of the playwright’s four great plays, so it seems like good planning for the Lyceum to complete the series with The Cherry Orchard. That said this production is no mere intellectual exercise. Byrne’s bold Scottish adaptation, coupled with Tony Cownie’s 1979 vision for the play, make it different from the hallowed versions of Chekhov we’re used to seeing. Different in a good way, that is.

In terms of the plot, the production remains close to the original: a land-owning widow (Mrs Ramsay-Mackay) and her family are swamped by debt and face the loss of their ancestral home with its beloved cherry orchard, until a local businessman (Malcolm McCracken) proposes a commercial venture that will allow them to save face. So far, so Chekhov, only the action is transported from Russia to the Highlands. This is an inspired parallel given both locations share a sense of romantic idealism, perfectly captured in Michael Taylor’s set, complete with its full-length faux Raeburn portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie.

The family’s idealism is also a rich source of comedy in Chekhov as he sends up the aristocrats, most obviously the widow’s brother, who can even wax lyrical about  the nobility of a bookcase that  has ‘served the family’.  While this comedy translates well into the Scottish version, with the brother, Guy Ramsay, as the archetypal toff, Byrne really comes into his own with his mastery of local dialect, especially in curses and put downs, for example, the servant Fintry on a broken coffee pot: ‘bloody hoor of a thing!’. Meanwhile Grant O’Rourke is hilarious as the accident prone Sorley Shanks.     

That said the play does not shy away from the harsh politics at the heart of Chekhov’s ‘comedy’, when post-Revolutionary Russia saw the rise of the middles classes in direct opposition to the gentry. Instead it transports us to a time of equally significant social change in Scotland’s recent history. Setting the action at the start of Thatcher’s reign, a time still fresh in Scottish memory, when ambition was rewarded and notions of community and local industry thwarted, Cownie ensures we are shown both sides of the story.

On the one hand we admire the ambitious McCracken, who has been successful, despite the odds. We also empathise with his frustration towards the Ramsay-Mackays, who refuse to even acknowledge their financial downfall, let alone listen to his solution. It has even been suggested McCracken’s character is a self-portrait of Chekhov, himself a victim of his father’s squandering and subsequently a self-made man.

On the other hand, the play also accommodates a more sympathetic view of the Ramsay-Mackays. Even McCracken does not place himself in direct opposition to them. This psychological complexity is expertly gauged by the actor Andy Clark, especially in the scene where McCracken tries to comfort Mrs Mackay, almost admitting  his own solution is harsh, however practical. Perhaps this again reveals Chekhov in McCracken, showing the playwright’s own ambivalence towards the declining aristocrats, especially given he was dying as he wrote the play. Indeed however eccentric and amusing the idle rich are shown to be, we are also made to face how devastating the loss of their home is to their sense of identity. They don’t know who they are anymore and we feel for them, not least due to Maureen Beattie’s exquisitely sensitive portrayal of Mrs Mackay.

In fact the entire cast is very impressive. Predominantly RSAMD trained, each actor makes an impact through Chekhov’s typically anti-star structure in which there are no lesser roles. Indeed it is the production itself that sparkles, reviving the classic play with contemporary relevance and humour, making Chekhov’s concern that his writing was too specific to have relevance outside Russia impossible to believe.

Felicity Thomson

The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, adapted by John Byrne, directed by Tony Cownie

The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

16th April- 8th May 2010  

Theatre Royal Bath Productions

 Presents

 Alison Steadman David Troughton in

Enjoy

 By Alan Bennett

Reviewed by Sue Marks at Milton Keynes Theatre on Monday 12^th April 2010.

This play was written in 1980 and is centred on two main characters, husband and wife Wilfred and Connie Craven played by David Troughton and Alison Steadman.  It is set in Leeds in the couple’s home, a back-to-back that is among the last to be demolished as part of a modernisation scheme in a run down working class area. The couple are expecting to be re-housed in a modern maisonette. It purports to be a comedy and the audience were in fits of laughter, myself included, however there were times other people were laughing more than I was and vice versa. There were also some very moving scenes that were quite sad.

The set features the interior of the house with its floors removed so that doors and windows open onto empty space. The decor was shabby and the furniture very basic.  There was a kitchen off the living room and the stairs also went up from the living space.

Wilfred and Connie had been married a long time and had very little left to say to each other. Wilfred had been injured by a hit and run driver which had left him with a metal plate in his head, a numb arm and he walked with a limp. Connie was in the early stages of dementia and kept forgetting things. They were clearly irritated by their own and each other’s medical conditions which led to constant bickering.

Their grown up daughter Linda, played by Josie Walker, lives at home but appears to travel a lot. Wilfred thinks she has a good job and is proud of her but when she eventually arrives home it is obvious she is a different type of “working girl”. They also have a son who is homosexual and estranged from them. However, he is reunited with them during the course of the play.

They don’t get many visitors so were anxious when there was a knock at the door. It transpired that the council had sent some sociologists to observe the remaining residents.  It was obvious that the young woman in the grey suit was in fact a man; Ms Craig was played by Richard Glaves. The observer sat in a chair with a note pad and they had been told not to engage them in conversation. Of course, once someone was watching their “normal” life things began to happen that were out of the ordinary.

Whilst Connie is out shopping a local youth calls round to see Wilfred and assaults him by hitting his head. The youth has his own “observer” with him and they both leave. Neither observer had intervened, both remained impartial. Connie returns home and eventually realises that Wilfred is very still, is he dead?  Unable to get any response Connie calls on her neighbour, Mrs Clegg played by Carol Macready, for assistance. Of course Mrs Macready also has an observer in tow. Believing Wilfred must be dead, although no one qualified has confirmed this, Connie and Carol attempt to lay him out, with some hilarious consequences. I won’t reveal any more of the plot, if you want to know what happens, go and see it.

Alison Steadman is excellent in the role of Connie Craven and gave a very powerful performance. David Troughton is also very good as Wilfred. Josie Walker was very plausible as the feisty Linda Craven. Carol Macready was very good as the extrovert Mrs Clegg.

This play is quite thought provoking, yes it’s a comedy but it’s also very emotional. I found it sad to see a couple who had been married for so long having seemingly lost what love they had for each other. Their daughter Linda was quite cold and uncaring and they were estranged from their son. The home and community they had known for so long was being bulldozed, would they be isolated in their new home? They were physically and mentally broken like their street and community and no one cared about them. How could the observers remain impartial when someone was in need of medical attention or help? Connie had mentioned the phone box had been vandalised, it made me realise how we take our mobile phones for granted, when not that long ago they didn’t exist. We would be able to call for help more quickly now. I think the difference in what people find funny will depend on how people relate to the characters. Those who are young may find some parts funnier than those who are not close to their children or are getting forgetful themselves. This play is very entertaining and well worth seeing.

Enjoy plays Milton Keynes Theatre from Monday 12^th April to Saturday 17^th April 2010. Milton Keynes Theatre Box Office 0844 871 7652 (bkg fee).

The tour then continues playing Alhambra Theatre Bradford from Monday 19^th April to Saturday 24^th April 2010.

www.miltonkeynestheatre.com

Reviewed by Sue Marks at Milton Keynes Theatre on Monday 12^th April 2010 on behalf of Catherine Brian

Shakespeare’s Plautus-originated farce about two pairs of twins separated at birth isn’t short of revivals, but here we have a perennial favourite completely fresh-minted in the Royal Exchange’s best production of the Bard since Greg Herzov’s Tempest.

 Guest director Roxana Silbert hasn’t felt the need to impose some radical interpretation, trendy concept or modern update on the play but lets it speak for itself - and how refreshing it is to see Shakespearean comedy, plain and unadorned, working so well on the stage 400 years after it was written.  The production is vigorous and unpretentious, with the bare-boned simplicity of those delightful outdoor shows that spring up around the country in the summer months. 

The casting needs to be absolutely perfect if the slapstick is to come over as knock-about comedy rather than cruel and sadistic, and the choice of ensemble is inspired: every actor is instantly likeable and the result is a charming and cheerful comedy of mistaken identities.  Sam Collings is notably winning as a well-heeled, sun-blocked Syracusean tourist, and the sparky relationship with his solicitous slave (Michael Jibson) veers between funny, tender, intimate and irritable as the day’s confusions ensue.  Jack Farthing as Antipholus’s long-lost brother has the arrogance and sense of entitlement of the handsome court favourite, and Owain Arthur as his bungling and abused servant is suitably long-suffering - the two blonde, chubby Dromios are a great double-act with a convincing resemblance to one another.

 Even the less colourful characters like the Duke of Ephesus (Munir Khairdin) and Egeon (Fred Ridgeway) are attractive and brimming with life, and Jan Chappell’s Abbess is impressive and imposing as she descends from the gods like a true deus (or dea) ex machina.

 There isn’t a stick of furniture on Anthony MacIlwaine’s stark stage - a plain white raised ring with a judiciously used revolve at its centre - so the action is never impeded and the focus is entirely on the characters.  This means that Steve Brown’s sound design and Chahine Yavroyan’s lighting are vital elements in creating a sense of place and atmosphere, and the costume department ably assists with lovely rich eastern fabrics cut in an Elizabethan interpretation of Byzantium.

 Resisting temptation to ham up the comic set-pieces, the production runs straight through in a modest 90 minutes without interval - a typical example of the evening’s elegance and restraint.  If this is accomplished piece is representative of Roxana Silbert’s work I hope the Royal Exchange invites her back at the earliest opportunity.

The Comedy of Errors is on until Saturday 8 May 2010

Prices: £8.50-£29.50

Evenings: Mon-Fri @ 7.30, Sat @ 8pm [not Tues 13 April]

Matinees: Wed @ 2.30, Sat @ 4pm and Tues 13 April @ 2.30

Box Office: 0161 833 9833

www.royalexchange.co.uk

Fame is a drug. It’s a worse drug than drugs

Tabloid journalists Greg and Liz pose as John and Jane, employees of a prestigious private bank. Over several glasses of champagne accompanied by ample flattery the pair offers TV star Barry, aka „Mr Saturday Night“ a lucrative fee to speak at a corporate hospitality event. Barry greedily takes the bait relishing the thought of outsmarting his agent on this deal. The next scene begins with the sound of a cash register being opened and flash lights flashing. Barry is sharing his life philosophy with Jane. He confesses that he is tired of fame and sees most of his fans as lobotomised wankers. Barry actually always wanted to be a school teacher to help people but he turned out to be a famous star. Now he yearns for normality, dullness even – a phrase he uses to come on to Jane which does not have quite the desired effect.  To overcome Jane’s resistance Barry then tries to coax her into taking cocaine – unaware that this whole encounter is being filmed and will later be used to blackmail him for the sake of a sensational story.

Winner of the Evening Standard, Olivier and Critics Circle awards for Best Play, Joe Penhall is the writer of Blue/Orange which ran at the National Theatre and subsequently in the West End. This is the first major revival of Dumb Show since its premiere in 2004 at the Royal Court. The main theme of Penhall’s dark comedy is the exploitation of people’s misery for entertainment - the "tabloidification" of popular culture and the media. Penhall asks why we as a society have become so obsessed with celebrity and the ‘Circus Maximus’ of destroying those who we once adored. Today there seem to be four phases of celebrity drama: adulation, degradation, rehabilitation and, possibly, redemption – as in the case of Jane Goody who suddenly was regarded as a wonderful human being due to her fight with terminal cancer. A celebrity who is going to remain one must keep offering new personal drama to feed the ravenous media appetite. And those who are not so inclined fight a constant battle to guard their right to privacy against the claim of so-called public interest.  

Sanjeev Bhaskar is brilliant as the self-important but hapless Barry. Dexter Fletcher and Emma Cunniffe give impressive performances as the scheming and manipulative journalists in this fine production aptly directed by Stephen Unwin.

1 – 27 April 2010

See Tickets - 0871 230 1552

The Rose Theatre

24-26 High Street, Kingston

www.rosetheatrekingston.org

Hi-De-Hi


DARLINGTON CIVIC THEATRE

‘Hi-de-Hi’, the BAFTA award-winning television sitcom which ran for nine series’ during the 1980s, returns to the stage for the first time since its West End run in 1984. Boasting two of the original cast members from the programme – Barry Howard and Nikki Kelly – it had the potential to be a ‘camp’ evening of nostalgia. However, this new production which has been adapted by Paul Carpenter and Ian Gower, is a disjointed affair that fails to gather any real sense of momentum.

The cast, which includes ‘Are You Smarter Than Your Ten Year Old’ presenter Damian Williams as Ted Bovis and ex-‘Emmerdale’ actor Peter Amory, seem more concerned with attempting to impersonate the original characters than instilling any conviction into their performances and this soon became rather irritating, especially in the cases of Rebecca Bainbridge (Gladys Pugh) and Damian Williams (Ted Bovis). Barry Howard, reprising his role as Barry Stuart-Hargreaves, was seriously under-utilised and spent most of the performance looking as though he was wishing he was somewhere – indeed, anywhere! – else. Nikki Kelly, who played Sylvia Garnsey in the television series, stepped into the late, great Diane Holland’s dancing shoes to portray the snobby Yvonne Stuart-Hargreaves but failed to convince.

Not even the frequent bursts of the theme tune that were played to facilitate scene changes could inject any authenticity into the show and I could not understand what possessed Bruce James, the producer, to attempt to transform the show into a musical by throwing random  revue numbers in at the most inopportune moments. It also seems that the function of the adaptors, Carpenter and Gower, was nothing more than to extract the comedy from Jimmy Perry and David Croft’s original scripts.

It is also telling that Bernie Nolan – who was contracted to play Peggy Ollerenshaw – withdrew from the production before it took to the stage, and her replacement, ‘How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria’ contestant Abigail Finley, was ‘indisposed’ on press night leaving an under-rehearsed Carrie Laurence to flounder her way through performing one of the most pivotal and popular characters. Su Pollard would, for once, have been dumbstruck!

This production fails to recreate the magic of Maplins and has more in common with a typical British summer – dull and wet with hardly any brighter patches trying to break through. Dismal.

 Steve Burbridge.