We are also introduced to Hervé’s adoptive parents – Jean Pierre, who was meant to become a priest but turned into a communist revolutionary instead, and Paule, a feminist who never intended to marry Jean Pierre, who she considered - “an eccentric serial philanderer, or raise a family.” Shortly after his adoption, Hervé’s half-brother Sebastian is born and they grow up together watching hippopotami and climbing mango trees before the whole family moves to France and then on to the UK. Hervé goes back and forth in time talking about his parents and his own childhood and subsequent studies of musical theatre in Manchester and Glasgow. His story is interspersed with songs and dance and the 80 minutes pass too quickly.     

By Carolin Kopplin

This production will go on to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. 

Someone To Blame
Kings Head Theatre
Written by Tess Berry-Hart
Directed by David Mercatali

Someone to Blame is based on the true story of Sam Hallam, played by Robin Crouch, a 17 year old boy from Hoxton who was convicted of murdering Essayas Kassahun from Finsbury in 2004. One of the most challenging things about watching a play based upon verbatim evidence is that people's testimonies can easily be manipulated to suit the belief of the writer. In this case, Tess Berry-Hart leaves us in no doubt that Sam Hallam is innocent and has been the victim of a devastating miscarriage of justice; personally, I also believe this to be true, for a number of reasons.

The first is that there was no forensic evidence to prove that Sam Hallam was there on the night Essayas Kassahun was murdered. The second, that there was no CCTV footage matching Sam Hallam's description in the gang of youths that set upon Essayas Kassahun. The third, that both eye-witnesses testimonies were riddled with inconsistencies, so much so, that the main witness retracted his accusation in court and the other admitted she accused Sam because she was looking for “someone to blame.”

These strands are all zealously evoked by the ensemble and re-emphasised, if a little shakily, by Keith Hill who plays Paul May, the main campaigner for Sam Hallam's innocence. By casting the audience as a jury, we feel empowered that we can somehow change the course of events, but of course in the eyes of the Law, we are as impotent as Sam.

Unfortunately, Someone to Blame is a victim of it's own passion and portrays the characters involved in a stereotypical light which denigrates their cause. We are subjected to hooded up rude boys, no nonsense police men and eloquent barristers, none of whom are given any depth or personality, instead they are simply two dimensional stereotypes, who serve one of two purposes, to illuminate the unreliability of the eye witnesses and to show how language can be used to manipulate people. Berry-Hart does not give us a decent enough reason to show why the witnesses were motivated to accuse Sam, rather the ensemble just conform to the stereotypes of , “Hoodies” that have been demonized by the media and politicians.

Someone to Blame is a powerful play that can evoke a strong emotional response for it's poignantly relevant subject matter. Despite it's faults it vehemently argues the case for Sam Hallam's innocence and succeeds in convincing the audience beyond reasonable doubt that he is. Above all, Berry-Hart illustrates how our system of Law is based not upon truth and justice, but on how adept barristers are at using language to confuse witnesses and manipulate suspects in such a way, as to get them to agree with whatever they say. After all, how can we consider the Judiciary a reliable and trustworthy system when painfully clear, miscarriages of justice take place, like the imprisonment of Sam Hallam.

 

https://kingsheadtheatre.ticketsolve.com/shows/126520965/events
http://www.samhallam.com/

I’ll not spoil the beginning of ‘That’ll Be the Day’ but suffice it to say it begins at Rock and Roll’s notional starting point, Skiffle, complete with tea chest bass and washboard. Then before we even had time to draw a breath Elvis was in the building. Dean Rebel made a fine job of the King, the voice was good and he looked right. A documentary film montage of the era is projected behind him as he sings and gyrates.

The full company are a five piece band along with three male and three female singers. After an early appearance one of the girls seems to be absent for a long time until she reappeared with a bandaged ankle perhaps the result of an offstage accident.


As you would expect from a band of hard working professionals they never faltered for a moment and work hard they did; nearly three hours of nonstop energy as they took us through, a not always chronological, selection of hit songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s. If they weren’t singing your favourite song then you knew they soon would be. They were all in there, Streisand, Shaw, Ross, Shaky, The Beatles way too many to list.

The hits are interspersed with comic routines. In the first half the routines are reminiscent of the old 60s favourite Crackerjack, then spicing up in the second half to a saucy seaside postcard level. This company knows its audience, a quick look round suggested a late sixties demographic. They play the nostalgia card perfectly in the comic routines and never fail to get the nearly full auditorium roaring with laughter.



Not only is the show nostalgic in theme but in style too. It took me back to 70s Saturday evening TV prime time entertainment. The show is not sophisticated and not overly clever and the audience loved it for that. That’ll be the Day is an eclectic mix, Country Music, Laurrel and Hardy, the Bay City Rollers, a fearsome drum duet backed by fabulous guitarist Ian Hawkins who has a very street cred. pedigree. When the company all sing together their voices compliment one another beautifully as demonstrated perfectly in a big hippy extravaganza before the interval. There was a wonderfully poignant moment when Dolly Parton sang, ‘I will Always Love You’, seamlessly segued into Witney Houston singing her version of the song, voiced brilliantly by Nikki Hechavarria; a fitting tribute. In complete contrast, show director, Trevor Payne, has the audience howling with laughter as his Mick Jagger takes them down memory lane to their childhood.

By the end of the show the audience are on their feet singing, dancing and clapping along. It is announced the company will be returning to the theatre with a new show in October and I wager most of the audience will be too.

Future tour dates.
SOUTHSEA Kings Theatre Friday 9th March 2012 +44 (0) 2392 828 282 DARTFORD Orchard Theatre Tuesday 13th March 2012 +44 (0) 01322 220 000
HAYES The Beck Theatre Thursday 15th March 2012 +44 (0) 20 8561 8371
SWINDON Wyvern Theatre Friday 16th March 2012 +44 (0) 1793 524 481 DUNSTABLE The Grove Theatre Saturday 17th March 2012 +44 (0) 1582 60 20 80
SHREWSBURY Theatre Severn Wednesday 21st March 2012 +44 (0) 1743 281 281
CHELTENHAM Everyman Theatre Thursday 22nd-24th March 2012 +44 (0) 1242 572 573
SOUTHEND Cliffs Pavilion Thursday 29th March 2012 +44 (0) 1702 351 135
WEYMOUTH Pavilion Friday 30th March 2012 +44 (0) 1305 783225 DERBY Assembly Rooms Saturday 31st March 2012 +44 (0) 1332 255 800 EASTBOURNE Congress Theatre Sunday 1st April 2012 01323 412000 TORQUAY Princess Theatre Saturday 7th April 2012 0844 871 3023 LLANDUDNO Venue Cymru Sunday 8th April 2012 +44 (0) 1492 872000 LEAMINGTON SPA Royal Spa Centre Thursday 12th April 2012 01926 737 154
PETERBOROUGH The Cresset Friday 13th April 2012 +44 (0) 1733 265705
 NORTHAMPTON Royal & Derngate Thursday 19th April 2012 +44 (0) 1604 624811
 STEVENAGE Gordon Craig Theatre Friday 20th & 21st April 2012 +44 (0) 1438 894921
POTTERS BAR Wyllyotts Theatre Sunday 22nd April 2012 +44 (0) 1707 645005
YORK Grand Opera House Thursday 26th April 2012 +44 (0) 844847 2322 RETFORD Majestic Theatre Friday 27th April 2012 +44 (0) 1777 706866 CROMER Pavillion Theatre Saturday 28th April 2012 +44 (0) 1263 512495 NORWICH Theatre Royal Sunday 29th April 2012 +44 (0) 1603 63 00 00

 http://www.thatllbetheday.com/TourDates.php

For details of the Waterside Theatre programme: “Box Office: 0844 871 7607 (bkg fee) Groups Hotline: 0844 871 7614 Access Booking: 0844 871 7677 (bkg fee) Online Booking: www.ambassadortickets.com/aylesbury (bkg fee)

Reviewed by:
Pete Benson
 8th March 2012

Hay Fever

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You won’t find Less Than Kind listed among Sir Terence Rattigan’s 27 stage plays.

Written in 1944 for Gertrude Lawrence (who rejected it, apparently without even reading it), it was offered to Broadway star Alfred Lunt who got Rattigan to rewrite so much of it that it became a different play and opened in London under the title of Love In Idleness.

The play now showing at Windsor, however, is Rattigan’s original, one copy of which survived among the Lord Chamberlain’s Office papers.

Is it worth reviving? One friend described it as ‘silly’ and said no wonder it was known as Rattigan’s ‘lost comedy’. But I beg to differ. It does appear, at the start, to be light and frothy, but it becomes increasingly dark and the many twists and turns in the plot make for an entertaining and satisfying evening.

The story revolves around widow Olivia Brown who is ‘living in sin’ with Sir John Fletcher, a cabinet minister, captain of industry – and married. They are blissfully happy – until Olivia’s 17-year-old son Michael returns from Canada where he was sent to escape the war. He is described as a ‘red revolutionary’, Sir John a ‘blue reactionary’, and they hate each other on sight. Their rows and the affect these have on Olivia would be enough for any stage drama, but there is so much more to this production, and to disclose the sub-plots to those who have yet to see it may spoil the many surprises in store.

As Rattigan intended, the storyline is akin to Hamlet, with Sir John as Claudius and Olivia as Gertrude, but I find Winston Churchill’s speeches, which open each act, a clever way of summing up the message of the play.

The casting of James Wilby as Sir John is a surprise albeit a good one. More suited to the likes of Brideshead Revisited and Downton Abbey, he is the archetypal Englishman, but as Sir John he plays a gruff Canadian and does it with aplomb. Sara Crowe is perfectly cast as the slightly ditsy blonde Olivia, an innocent who does, however, show some spirit, but the character Michael Brown sits uncomfortably with me

At a time when, as shown at the beginning of the play, politeness and respect was the norm, this young upstart bursts onto the stage, shouting the odds and showing no respect for his elders. This anomaly is further emphasised by David Osmond as Michael, who looks younger than the character’s 17 years, but he grabs the part with both hands and gives a blinding performance.

It’s not the first time Rattigan has written a strong part for a 17-year-old character. The lover of the wife of the murder victim in Cause Celebre was just that age… interesting!

 Less Than Kind continues at the Theatre Royal Windsor until 10 March and then tours from:

 

12-17 March: Theatre Royal Winchester

19-24 March: Mercury Theatre, Colchester

26-31 March: Arts Theatre, Cambridge

2-7 April: Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold

Writer/director Matthew Dunster, whose adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 was such a success at this address two years ago, has now staged Alan Sillitoe’s classic working class novel of the 1950s.

Unlike other protagonists of the Angry Young Man era (Billy Liar, Jimmy Porter, Lucky Jim etc), Arthur Seaton has no desire to better himself or fulfil some inner ambition.  A true anti-hero, his nihilistic existence amounts to earning enough money to spend his free time drinking and getting laid, with the odd excursion into fighting.

Matthew Dunster pares the story down to concentrate on Arthur’s complicated love life, especially the clandestine affair with a married woman, Brenda, whose husband is one of his work-mates. 

Perry Fitzpatrick’s Arthur is a swaggering cock-of-the-walk, constantly running his hands through his teddy-boy hair-do, and Clare Calbraith is very good as Brenda, particularly in the poignant bathroom scene where she is supported by an excellent Jo Hartley.

The repetitive nature of the factory production line is imaginatively reproduced by an overhead rail which zips Arthur’s costume changes on and off the stage (design by Anna Fleischle), and a great soundtrack of rock ‘n’ roll standards evoke the period brilliantly.

Inevitably large swathes of the book are skipped over, including the iconic scene with the air gun, but the spirit of Sillitoe’s novel is fully transposed to the stage.

SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING is on until Saturday 7 April 2012
Prices £9-£33
Evenings: Mon-Fri @ 7.30, Sat @ 8pm
Matinees: Wed @ 2.30, Sat @ 4pm
Box Office: 0161 833 9833
www.royalexchange.co.uk

Royal Shakespeare Company present

The Taming of the Shrew

By William Shakespeare

 At Milton Keynes Theatre

 

It’s not often that a play over 3 hours long captivates you to the point where it appears to be too short.  However, I would have been happy if there had been more of this. This play is believed to be one of Shakespeare’s earliest works and has been criticised in the past for its misogynist theme where women are chattels and a spirited woman needs to be tamed.  Directed by Lucy Bailey, this production has the cast wearing modern clothes and some have prominent tattoos which gives it a more current feel.

 

The set consists of a huge bed and the headboard features doors and cupboards that are opened during the course of the play to reveal musicians or some of the cast interacting off the main stage. There is a large sheet covering the bed, which people get under from time to time.  It also provides a soft surface during the fight scenes.

 

At the start of the play a drunken beggar, Christopher Sly (Nick Holder) is being ejected from a bar in the country and having been found by members of a shooting party is carried to a Lord’s house where he sleeps in a drunken stupor. When he awakes he finds he is in Padua and somewhat bemused by recent events, watches the play unfold from a corner of the large bed. Nick Holder is very amusing in this role and at times runs around scantily clad.

 

Baptista Minola (Terence Wilton) a wealthy gentleman of Padua is looking for husbands for his two daughters but is adamant that his younger daughter, Bianca  (Elizabeth Cadwallander) may not marry before her elder sister Kate (Katherina) played by Lisa Dillon. Whilst there is no shortage of suitors for Bianca, there is no one brave enough to take on Kate, the ‘shrew’.

 David Caves takes the role of Petruchio, a gentleman of Verona who arrives on the scene.  Motivated by the dowry Petruchio is determined to woo the feisty Kate. Lisa Dillon gives her all to the role of Kate and is incredibly wild at times, portraying the shrew as someone quite crazy and scary. Whilst I thought Lisa was excellent in the role, I didn’t particularly like the character, but then I doubt if her actions made her very likeable.  David Caves gave an equally powerful performance and the two characters created a sparkling chemistry.   My only criticism is that Petruchio had an Irish accent, which seemed strange given that he was from Verona.

 

I thought the younger sister, Bianca was the more appealing of the two sisters and I wasn’t surprised that she had no shortage of suitors.  Kate was very nasty to her sister, at one point she had bound her ankles and I thought Bianca was very good at hopping around. There is intrigue involving Bianca’s suitors and courtship.

 

Petruchio marries Kate and the play continues with the methods he employs to ‘tame’ his feisty wife. Included in this is controlling what and when she eats. I was uncomfortable with the way women were treated in this play even though this was the norm for the period it was written in. In some ways it is hard to sympathise with the treatment of Kate as she had treated others badly, including her sister.

 

The play is fast moving and well performed by all the cast.  I enjoyed this performance and it was well received by the audience so I would urge you not to miss this production.

 The Taming of the Shrew plays Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday 10^th March 2012. Milton Keynes Theatre Box Office 0844 871 7852 (bkg fee)

The tour continues playing Theatre Royal Nottingham from Tues 13^th March until Sat 17^th March 2012.

www.atgtickets.com/miltonkeynes  www.rsc.org.uk/shrew  http://uktheatre.tv

Reviewed by Sue Marks at Milton Keynes Theatre on Tuesday 6^th March 2012.

 

 

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