UK Theatre Network

Leanne Masterton is a graduate of Guildford School of Acting.  As a student Leanne brought depth and layers to her performances. Her life experience of a 12 year business career with the Railways of Britain saw her involved with two fatal train crashes and she decided that it was time to follow her heart as "life was too short"; she hasn't looked back since.

Following a varied career which includes film and West End credits; August sees her present her own brand of classic cabaret in "Hello Jerry!"  at The Jermyn Street Theatre, Jermyn Street, London. The evening presents the music and life of Jerry Herman, the man who gave us Hello Dolly, La Cage Aux Folles and Mack and Mabel amongst others.

 

Described as a "standout singer" in recent critiques, Leanne's brand of cabaret is a combination of character and quips.  Her personable easy approach to working in front of a live audience brings relaxed fun, elegant entertainment and is both funny and heart rending in turn.

"Hello Jerry!"  is on the 15^th August 2010 at 730pm Jermyn St Theatre, Jermyn Street, London. More information can be found on www.leannemasterton.com and www.dresscircle.co.uk.  Tickets are available at www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk or 0207 287 2875 £10 in advance £14 on the door.

Does she still drink? - She stopped when I began.

Washed up actor Frank Elgin is asked to audition for a leading role in a Broadway play. Bernie Dodd, the director, remembers Elgin in his prime and now intends to cast him in his new production – overriding the objections of the producer who is sceptical at best. To him, Frank is an uncalculable risk – an alcoholic and a has-been. Under the pressure of reviving his career, Frank seeks solace in alcohol, thus forcing his wife Georgie to try and keep him focused on his career. Dodd, believing that Georgie is the reason for Elgin’s career decline, strikes up a stormy relationship with the actor’s wife.

The Country Girl, the most famous of Clifford Odets’ late plays, is considered an authentic „backstage piece“ of the American theatre. The filmed version with Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly has become a classic. This is Odets’s witty dialogue at its best; „Stop minimizing what I say by agreeing with it!“ Unfortunately, this production does not do the play justice. Directed by Rufus Norris, Martin Shaw paints Frank Elgin with rather broad strokes. There is little room for subtlety. Jenny Seagrove plays Frank’s downtrodden wife Georgie who sees herself as a liasion officer between Frank and Bernie. Almost catatonic in her resignation she becomes alive in the second half of the play. There is a very moving scene with the sympathetic playwright Paul Unger (Luke Shaw) and a young actress who plays Frank’s grand-daughter (Nancy Stoddard). Peter Harding is excellent as Larry, the stage manager, who truly cares about his actors.

The show still runs until 14 August 2010 at the Richmond Theatre.

Richmond Theatre,The Green, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 1QJ
http://www.ambassadortickets.com/1742/659/Richmond/Richmond-Theatre/The-Country-Girl

The latest work at Opera Holland Park  Francesca da Rimini,  is a challenging piece. Like Debussy’s  Pelleas and Melisande  it seems there are no real memorable duets that linger with Riccardo Zandonai’s work. Also like the aforementioned opera, they share a somewhat similar storyline where the heroine falls in love with the brother  of her husband and both come to tragic ends. It’s a familiar sense of déjà vu.

 

The opera is based on the life of the daughter of Guido da Polenta, lord of Ravenna who in appeasement of peace between the Malatesta family affirms the agreement by marrying his daughter Francesca (Cheryl Barker ) to the Malatestan heir,  Giovanni (Jeffrey Black) .

Giovanni being deformed has a proxy stand in his place -his handsome brother, Paolo(Julian Gavin ) . Naturally Paolo and Francesca fall in love but she realises the morning after the wedding day she has been duped. During the war with a neighbouring family,  Francesca and Paolo fall in love, helped along by a passion for reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere.

It is only when the youngest brother Malaetestino(Jeffrey Lloyd Roberts)  tells Giovanni of their affair, that he finds them and kills them both.

 It’s difficult to see chemistry and contrast between the cast. While Barker’s voice quality is lovely, her  physicality does not suggest she is the  naïve pawn. Gavin’s Paolo is sung with a depth of feeling but again it’s an unlikely pair.  Lloyd Roberts as Malaetestino is in fine voice but as he is  the most strapping of the three brothers it’s hard to see him as the ‘small perverted child’ Francesca calls him when he makes his own advances to her.  

 

 

The staging never quite creates the sense of their world. Two battlements are constantly moving to show a fortress under attack and Francesca’s boudoir within. There are significant gaps of time between scene changes  that somehow seem just not right.
There are some great touches such as lighted torches held aloft moving back and forth to suggest a siege and a rain of flaming arrows. The depth of the female chorus singing was lovely, but this seems not enough. After all the effort to get to the tragic end,  Giovanni despatches  Paolo and Francesca so quickly that one feels somehow cheated.

 

Phillip Thomas leads the  City of London Sinfonia for Francesca da Rimini till August 13^th

 

July 30, August 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13

In an old mansion in the Garden District of New Orleans a family is gathering together for the first time in almost a year. Last Summer Sebastian Venable died in suspicious circumstances and now the only witness to his death has appeared and will destroy everything in her wake.

 

"Suddenly Last Summer" is considered by many to be one of Tennessee Williams darkest and most surreal plays. Although the play's first production was in 1958 it didn't receive its Broadway debut until 1995.

 

It is perhaps best known as the inspiration for the Academy Award nominated 1959 film starring Elizabeth Taylor, Katherine Hepburn and Montgomery Clift.

 

Whilst the play deals with subjects such as insanity and repressed sexuality it also contains the lyricism that is frequently found in Williams writing. And this production by Theatre Alba in the gardens of Duddingston Kirk Manse should certainly prove to be one of the most atmospheric and memorable productions of this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

 

Let's just hope we get some of that balmy New Orleans weather to go with it!

 

 

“Suddenly Last Summer”

by Tennessee Williams

10-14 and 17-21August

16:00 (1hr 20mins)
 

In the Marquee at

Duddingston Kirk Manse Gardens (Venue 121)

 

Photos by Alan Guthrie

Canoeing for Beginners

The Customs House, South Shields

Award-winning playwright Mike Yeaman has taken the essence of a factual story and transformed it into an engrossing and entertaining theatre production. The story of a certain Hartlepool woman whose husband disappeared one day only to reappear eight years later forms the basis of Canoeing for Beginners.

Although, upon first consideration, such a topic may seem strange material to be chosen as the subject of a play that is, predominantly, a comedy-drama, Yeaman has the courage and talent to do just that.

Having assembled a cast that includes Pat Dunn, David Whitaker, Chris Connel, Laura Norton and Gary Kitching, the production, on paper, promised to be a landmark event in regional and, indeed, national theatre. However, in practice, several factors prevented it from achieving its full potential.

Helen Ferguson’s direction resulted in several shortcomings. It seemed blatantly apparent that the cast were under-rehearsed and, as a consequence, several actors did not perform comfortably in their roles. Pat Dunn, as Beryl, and David Whitaker, as Frank, should have been confident leading players but neither conveyed the required self-belief and conviction to do so. Chris Connel seriously over-egged the pudding in his portrayal as Sgt Watts, but should be congratulated for his ability to perform two roles in very quick succession on a number of occasions. Gary Kitching and Laura Norton, as Frank and Beryl’s adult children, both performed well, but lacked the guidance of a firm directorial hand.

Running at nearly two and a half hours, the piece seemed long at times and there was at least one scene that could easily have been cut without detracting from the plot.

On the plus side, the show contains some wonderful one-liners which provoked more than a few belly-laughs from the audience. The main strength of this production lies with Mike Yeaman’s script and, providing that certain tweaks and adjustments are made, I envisage no reason why it should not have a long and successful future ahead of it. Indeed, Canoeing for Beginners is a generic hybrid that skilfully blends comedy with drama and fact with fiction, resulting in a piece that bears all the hallmarks of a sure-fire hit.

Steve Burbridge.

Runs until Saturday 7^th August 2010.

 

 

 

Though Verdi’s La Forza has many plot twists that seem far too coincidental, the Opera Holland Park current production is certainly an example of minimal staging with maximum impact.

 

Daughter of Seville Leonora (Gweneth Anne Jeffers) attempts to elope with Inca blood prince Don Alvaro (Peter Auty )  but in the midst of their escape is startled by her father who is accidental killed by Alavaro. Leonora is condemned to flee, later becoming separated from Alvaro.  

 

Action goes to Seville at war – the chorus were in fine voice and acted as a living set , using  Alison Chitty’s   designs of black and red to evoke wartime and hunger. 

 

Leonora’s  brother Don Carlo (Mark Stone ) embarks on a sojourn of vengeance to find the lovers, who  eventually by chance are both seeking refuge at a monastery headed by   Padre Guardiano (Mikhail Svetlov).

 

Though a first ever production for OHP, audiences would recognize the overture for this work, regularly played by classical music radio and featured in the film Jean de Florette.

 

The performance of the evening and indeed for me the season so far  was from  Gweneth Anne Jeffers.  Her Leonora is exquisite, her voice caresses notes one by one – she is a joy to listen to. Even the most hard hearted critic could not fail to appreciate what a talented performer Jeffers is.

 

 With an animated  Stuart Stratford  leading  the City of London Sinfonia, this piece is  a memorable night at the opera.

July 27, 29, 31, August 4, 6, 10, 12, 14