It takes a great deal of talent to pull off what is effectively a one-woman sketch show, yet writer-performer Carly Tarett does this effortlessly with her sequence of single-handed playlets themed around the seven deadly sins.

Apart from being very funny comic monologues, each piece works as a stand-alone drama.  Outstanding among them are the blindfolded neighbour-from-hell whose envy and interference have led to her current mysterious predicament, and a philosophical exchange (technically a monopolylogue) between a couple of east end bank robbers.  However the highlight of the evening is an outrageously rude skit about an elderly Welsh classroom assistant - her imaginatively obscene and expletive-filled commentary on Red Riding Hood would make Quentin Tarentino blush.

The night finishes with a couple of great comic songs by a bone-idle touring musician who won’t even finish writing her own lyrics.  Like several of the other creations I’d love to see her as a regularly recurring comedy character along the lines of John Shuttleworth.

Carly Tarett’s skilled writing and versatile delivery call to mind Joyce Grenfell.  With this all-round excellent show she is clearly a writer and performer to watch out for again.

Sinful was on at The Lass o’ Gowrie, 36 Charles Street, Manchester M1 7DB

www.thelass.co.uk
www.carlytarett.co.uk
www.eyeofthestormproductions.co.uk

The Royal Exchange has another popular hit on its hands with Jim Cartwright’s clever two-hander set in a pub.  Like his other gritty slice of life play, Road, we meet a parade of colourful northern working-class characters - here they’re passing through the saloon bar of a traditional public house which is presided over by a flirtatious landlady and her wisecracking husband.  In this play however all the roles are taken by a single pair of actors.

There isn’t a narrative arc other than the waxing and waning of customers as the evening passes.  But once the bar has cleared the undertow of tension between landlord and landlady is painfully exposed in a raw and heartbreaking final scene.

Local comedian Justin Moorhouse is a huge favourite with the crowd.  Big, cuddly and warm, he shambles about like a panda whose fur coat is at the dry-cleaners, and remains loveable whether playing the ebullient host, a lonely old widower, a neddy in a pom-pom hat or a sponging boyfriend with a roving eye.  As a bonus there’s plenty of banter with the audience, perhaps owing more to Justin’s stand-up experience than to the script.  At this point I should warn anyone of a retiring nature not to sit on the banquettes at the front, as they become such an integral part of the show that their occupants should probably get a credit in the programme.

Victoria Elliott is quite simply a brilliant actress with a natural flair for comedy – the biggest laugh of the night came from one of her off-the-cuff put-downs to an unfortunate audience member.  She is truly versatile in her range of playing, slipping easily between a wide variety of roles and acting styles.  The frail old lady with the butcher obsession is both funny and moving, the sub-Sloane Ranger who loves Big Men makes your eyes water, and the petrified woman on a night out with her abusive partner is horrifyingly real.

Designer Amanda Stoodley has created a circular mahogany bar that fits the space like it belongs there, and director Greg Hersov moves the action around (and over) it at a cracking pace.

With Happy Hour from 9pm-10.30 every evening, traditional pub games including darts, pool, table football available to play in the foyer, and free after-show entertainment on Thursdays, this is pub theatre with a twist.

TWO is on until Saturday 25 February 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

Manchester Royal Exchange is the only game in town for adult theatre-goers this Christmas.  Their Yuletide offering is always an out-and-out comedy, whether that be traditional English farce (See How They Run, 2008), European classic (Cyrano de Bergerac, 2006), or, as with 2005’s Harvey, an American screwball comedy perhaps better known in a black-and-white film version starring James Stewart.

Kaufman and Hart’s You Can’t Take It With You is an absolute fit for the latter category, although this co-production with Told by an Idiot Theatre Company is so extraordinarily physical and theatrical it completely dispels all sepia-tinted memories.  The madcap household of thwarted balletomanes, aspiring playwrights, xylophone-playing printers and exotic animals would be matter enough, but when you throw in a Russian émigré dancing master, an unexpected tax inspector, and most worryingly of all an amateur firework-maker, you can expect things to go with a bang.

Apart from the pyrotechnics, flying ballerinas and animatronic snakes, director Paul Hunter almost turns the play into a Busby Berkeley musical with scene changes re-imagined as dance sequences from The Great American Songbook.  There are endless bits of slapstick and comic business that would have done the Marx Brothers proud, as well as occasional moments of disaster that might just be deliberate.

Outstanding among the frenzy of (deliberate) over-acting are Golda Rosheuvell as the best stage drunk I’ve ever seen, Maggie O’Brien playing Grand Duchess Olga, an exiled aristocrat who now waits tables with sneering condescension, and Miltos Yerolemou in an electrifying performance as the terrifying maitre de ballet.

Paul Hunter takes full advantage of the proximity of the audience to involve them directly in the action - the people in the cheapest seats (the banquettes at the front) probably had the best night of all, which is entirely appropriate for a play that cocks its snook at materialism and wealth.

On the face of it an anti-capitalist screwball comedy might seem a real play for today.  But You Can’t Take It With You fails to answer the paradox at its own heart: true, it takes a swing at Wall Street bankers like Mr Kirby (Martin Hyder with a comb-over hairdo that deserves its own programme credit), but has nothing to say about Grandpa Vanderhof (an avuncular Christopher Benjamin) who maintains his family’s unconventional lifestyle by living off the substantial rents of his buy-to-let property portfolio; and his elaborate tax evasion scam is more or less eulogised, the dirty plutocrat!

Laura Hopkins’ set-on-wheels and Sian Williams’ choreography are at the heart of the show’s success.  Judging by the queues at the box office on press night, this is Manchester’s answer to One Man, Two Guvnors.  Smug in the knowledge that I’m already booked in again for January, I advise you to buy your tickets at once.

YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU is on until Saturday 14 January 2012
Prices £9-£33
Evenings: Mon-Fri @ 7.30, Sat @ 8pm
Matinees: Wed @ 2.30, Sat @ 4pm
Christmas & New Year performances vary - see website
Box Office: 0161 833 9833
www.royalexchange.co.uk

Has Manchester’s fringe theatre scene ever been in finer fettle?  A testament to its vigour is that among the numerous pantomimes, musicals and children’s shows which infest the city’s venues at this time of year there is still an enthusiastic audience for a brand new play, presented in the tiny space at the top of The Lass o’ Gowrie by young company Hazel Tree Productions.

Playwright Chris Dance puts a cynical spin on the season of goodwill by setting his comedy in Britain’s grottiest Santa’s Grotto, where put-upon shop-girl Laura (endearingly played by a starry-eyed Hazel Earle) is contractually obliged to wear the stripy stockings, fluffy red boots and pointy felt hat of one of Santa’s Little Helpers.

Her peaceful lunchtime sandwich among the sacks of presents, stuffed reindeer and fairy lights is interrupted by co-worker Julie (hilariously lairy Emma Laidlaw), who has disguised herself as an elf and fled the lingerie department for a natter with her friend, even though their manager has already tried to separate her from Laura for being a “bad influence”.

Chris Dance explores the girls’ fundamentally different natures with tart characterisation and plenty of wit - Julie is the party-loving singleton who stashes gin, brandy and half-eaten kebabs in her handbag, while romantically-thwarted Laura is the kind of person who revises for a game of Trivial Pursuit after the Queen‘s Speech.  Their tête-à-tête is interspersed with fleeting appearances from Father Christmas himself - David Slack’s downbeat northern Santa is straight out of The Last of the Summer Wine, and his white curly wig wouldn’t disgrace Lady GaGa.  And Mike Seal as Clive, the unworldly Elvis-obsessed busker, tops and tails the story beautifully, ending with a rousing sing-along.

Director Jake Murray - late of The Royal Exchange, where he was responsible for the excellent Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and A Conversation - makes a welcome return to Manchester with this sweet and funny production.

Early booking is recommended, as tonight was sold out.  May I also advise bringing a shoe-horn and a plunger - one for squeezing into your seat with at the beginning, and the other to extricate yourself at the end.

Grotto is on at The Lass o’ Gowrie, 36 Charles Street, Manchester M1 7DB until Saturday 17 December 2011
Tickets:  £6 from www.ibookedit.com
Performances: Thurs & Fri @ 7pm & 9pm; Sat @ 4pm & 7pm
www.hazeltreeproductions.co.uk
www.thelass.co.uk

Keep Calm and Carry On

The Customs House, South Shields

In Keep Calm and Carry On, Helen Russell has drawn upon her experience as an actress, comedienne, singer and playwright to create a poignant, funny and heartwarming play. Although it is not strictly autobiographical, it is certainly influenced by Russell’s own time as an ENSA performer during World War Two and, as she says in the programme notes, “it tells of what could and did happen in those days and people’s reaction to what was considered scandalous.”

The piece is set in London at the height of the Blitz, where nineteen-year-old Mary Robson (Rachel Teate) dreams of an escape – entertaining the troops on stage. However, her parents Ellie (Bidi Iredale) and Joe (Stewart Howson) don’t hold the same aspirations for her. The clash between the impetuousness of youth and the cautious protectiveness of age is deftly explored in the writing and brought to life with equal panache by the cast.

Of course, it isn’t giving anything away to reveal that the headstrong Mary gets her own way in the end. In fact it is the journey that young Mary takes from girl to woman and her subsequent ‘coming of age’ which forms the bedrock of the piece.

The play is authentically evocative, with no detail being overlooked, and the entire technical crew are worthy of special praise. The high-pitched wail of the air raid siren, the Bakelite radio on a table in the front room, the costumes, hairstyles, music and lighting all contribute to the overall tone to great effect. However, the battles and casualties of World War Two are merely a backdrop to the battles that are faced by Mary and her family as they struggle to maintain a sense of normality in abnormal times.

Russell’s script is a gem. Having spent most of the first act convincing the audience that the piece is a gently humorous nostalgic wartime romp, she then proceeds to drop a bombshell with as much precision as the Luftwaffe. Indeed, this play is, by no means, a sugar-coated depiction of wartime life but more of a hard-boiled examination of love, loss and the power of the human spirit against unbelievable odds. Her characters are instantly recognisable, three-dimensional and easy to relate with.

Director Jackie Fielding has assembled a first-rate cast, each of them seeming to understand their characters inside out. Although much of the action surrounds the tensions between Mary and her parents, the relationships between Mary and the two men who will have a significant impact on her life, Colin (James Hedley) and Len (Lawrence Stubbings), are also explored with sensitivity and skill. Finally, add to the mix a show-stopping, scene-stealing performance by Rosalind Bailey (as Mary’s Gran) and this war-time comedy drama is nothing less than victorious!

Steve Burbridge.

Runs until Saturday 12 November 2011.

 

God is British. That’s an established fact!

Al Murray has been extremely successful portraying a stereotypical , right-wing nationalist publican who thinks Britain is God’s gift to the world and all other countries are inferior. Murray originally studied history at Oxford. It was around this time that he started writing for Week Ending and Spitting Image. He toured with Frank Skinner in 1992 but his act was based merely around sound effects so he soon became tired of the routine. In 1994 Murray met Harry Hill who asked him to contribute to his Pub Internationale show - the Pub Landlord was born and went on to win him a Perrier Award in 1999. This spawned several successful shows including And A Glass Of White Wine For The Lady, My Gaff, My Rules and Who Dares Wins as well as the television series Time, Gentlemen, Please. Al Murray is now touring with his latest spin-off of the Pub Landlord concept, Barrel Of Fun.

A great fan of the rock band Queen, Al Murray gets us ready for the big event by playing recordings of We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions. When “the King of Draught” finally appears he is greeted with deafening applause by the Richmond audience. Immediately he begins insulting members of the audience and splashing beer all around while shaking hands. He asks the name and occupation of his victims to make fun of them and to spin outlandish stories around them. His arch enemies are financial advisors and bankers. When he encounters an accountant he asks him. “What’s your favourite number?” When the poor man actually says “6”, bucket loads of scorn rain down on him. But this is to be expected in this show. The audience does not seem to mind at all. Next Murray is making fun of a female police officer who loves using her taser just like her male piggy colleagues who are all “slow, violent, racist, thick, incompetent, and murderous”. References to a snout-nosed animal abound.

There is a lot more audience participation when the attention focuses on the different reaction of men and women to Pippa Middleton’s behind. Soon the first half is over and people are baptized with beer listening to the words of Jesus Christ.

This show is politically incorrect to the extreme and at times rather base. But it is also very funny. People take so many photos of Murray that he allows them a photo session in the beginning of the second half. His performance is concluded by a QA session.

Al Murray’s Pub Landlord is touring our beautiful country. Please find dates below.

Albert Halls, Victoria Square, Bolton
Date	Tickets
Thu 24 Nov 7:30pm	01204 334400£25.50Buy tickets at tixdaq.com

 

City Hall, Malthouse Lane, Salisbury
Date	Tickets
Thu 15 Dec 7:30pm	01722 434434£25.50Buy tickets at tixdaq.com

 

Grand Opera House, Cumberland Street, York
Date	Tickets
Fri 25 Nov 7:30pm	0844 871 7615£31.75Buy tickets at tixdaq.com

 

Grand Theatre, Singleton Street, Swansea
Date	Tickets
Wed 9 Nov 7:30pm	01792 475715£25.50Buy tickets at tixdaq.com

 

Harrogate Theatre, 3 Oxford Street, Harrogate
Date	Tickets
Wed 7 Dec 7:30pm	01423 502116£25.50Buy tickets at tixdaq.com

 

Lyric Theatre, 8 King Street, Carmarthen
Date	Tickets
Sat 12 Nov 7:30pm	0845 226 3509£25.50Buy tickets at tixdaq.com

 

Pavilion Theatre, Marine Parade, Worthing
Date	Tickets
Mon 31 Oct 7:30pm	01903 206206£12.50Buy tickets at tixdaq.com

 

Southport Theatre And Floral Hall Complex, Promenade, Southport
Date	Tickets
Wed 30 Nov 7:30pm	0870 607 7560£31.75Buy tickets at tixdaq.com

 

Theatr Brycheiniog, Canal Wharf, Brecon
Date	Tickets
Mon 7 Nov 7:30pm	01874 611622£25.50Buy tickets at tixdaq.com

 

Theatre Severn, Frankwell Quay, Shrewsbury
Date	Tickets
Sat 5 Nov 7:30pm	01743 281281£25 phone for availabilityBuy tickets at tixdaq.com
Mon 14 Nov 7:30pm	01743 281281£25.50Buy tickets at tixdaq.com

 

Watford Colosseum, Rickmansworth Road, Watford
Date	Tickets
Fri 4 Nov 7:30pm	0845 075 3993£26.50Buy tickets at tixdaq.com

 

William Aston Hall, Glyndwr University, Mold Road, Wrexham
Date	Tickets
Thu 10 Nov 7:30pm	01978 292015£25.50Buy tickets at tixdaq.com

 

                       We live, I regret to say, in an age of surfaces.

The Rose Theatre, undeservedly plagued by financial woes because it does not receive any arts council funding whatsoever, presents an excellent production of Wilde’s most popular play with a fantastic cast. Unwin sees The Importance of Being Earnest as a satire on the state of affairs: “The high propriety of Lady Bracknell in all things marital; the hypocrisy of Algernon and Jack; the indelicacy of Cecily and Gwendolen; the hidden secrets of Prism and Chasuble; the voracious appetites lurking beneath the genteel surface; and the never-ending inversion of the moral and the serious with the trivial and the pleasurable, are all designed to mock a particular set of Victorian mores.”  Unwin presents a fresh and new view of Wilde’s classic play. His comic timing and tempo are impeccable although I could not quite see the necessity for two intervals for this particular play. It rather slows things down. 

Quite often the young lovers seem interchangeable but in this production Algy (Bruce Mackinnon) is suave and urbane, a bit mischievous, whereas Jack (Daniel Brocklebank) is suitably nervous and indignant. Jane Asher plays a fairly young Lady Bracknell, quite different from the usually brazen character. Still authoritative her reaction to the handbag story is quite restrained, to great comic effect. Kirsty Besterman’s Gwendolen is charming and amiable yet already a younger version of her mother whilst Jenny Rainsford conveys the sweetness and shallowness of her character perfectly when she refuses to do her German lesson because it makes her look plain. Richard Corderey, who can also be seen in repertory with Jane Asher in Farewell to the Theatre, plays Rev. Canon Chasuble with gentle humour and affection when he carefully tiptoes towards a relationship with the delightful Miss Prism (Ishia Bennison). 

This is a production worth seeing so please make your way to the wonderful Rose Theatre in Kingston! 

Until 30^th October 2011
Rose Theatre - Kingston 2008. 24-26 High Street, Kingston, KT1 1HL

Box office: 08444 821556

 

Review of Maddy’s Many Mouths 

By Maddy Anholt

The Canal Cafe Theatre, 03/08/11

When porn obsessed public school boy, Thomas Prism (Elliot Hadley) takes it upon himself to interview 12 women for his GCSE coursework, he doesn’t know what he’s let himself in for. Move over  Alec Guinness, enter Maddy Anholt, impersonator extraordinaire. Over the course of the next hour we are introduced to a spectrum of sexy, shy, and insane women from all over the world, each one weirder than the last. Anholt’s ability to change roles is nothing short of phenomenal, her incredible talent for accents allowing her to switch character with consummate ease.  Anholt excels at exhibiting feminine characteristics that the audience can identify with, from femme fatales to plain freaks, the dozen women are all scarily accurate. From the extreme male manipulation of Paloma Freel, all the way from Australia, aka Cougar town, to an unsettlingly authentic portrayal of little girl, Rebecca Sutherton, probing her Barbie; Anholt’s  depictions are highly perceptive and consistently amusing.

Take sultry, yummy mummy, Saffron Uncaged, whose recent discovery of Buddhism seems more influenced by red wine than red robes, or the intense scientific, self examination of Dr Steely White, an American woman who would make your think twice of ever going to visit a psychiatrist. Anholt requires only a single prop to suggest her new incarnation, a wine glass will do for Saffron, lab coat for Dr Steely. Combined with Anholt’s brilliant accents and mannerisms, the objects become charged with the life of the characters, signalling the arrival of even more outlandish women.

Anholt’s portrayl of Muslim rude girl, Shariah Salaf is a hilarious send up of a ubiquitous presence on the top deck of a London bus.  Anholt demonstrates through exaggeration the intrinsic humour of a character that we can all recognize. Only in the melting pot of London is it possible to see such contradictions in religion and attitude, and the effect of cultural influence on upbringing.

Anholt works best when she’s portraying dominant women. South African, Adrianna Van Niekerk for example is so overpowering you think she was going to put you in a headlock. Her way of speaking coincides brilliantly with her lifestyle. Dating for her makes her feel like she’s in a game reserve,  with men seeing women like meat. Never one to mince her words, Niekerk is a tremendous character who has great potential. The more submissive roles such as the hermit, Edna Davies and the bespectacled Penny Saxton worked well, but were overshadowed by their more assertive counterparts. One difficulty Anholt faces, is in adapting the speed of such an energetic piece to find the right pace for the more submissive roles.

Elliot Hadley provides fine support, in the form of sex obsessed, public school boy, Thomas Prism, whose life lessons have him mopping his brow with excitement. The emphasis on sex jokes was perhaps a little too obvious and the women themselves were so intrinsically entertaining, they didn’t really need so many of Prism’s puerile comments.  

Maddy’s Many Mouths is a fantastically entertaining show, which allows Anholt a perfect vehicle for her incredible talent for impersonation and accents. It is highly impressive to see one woman capable of portraying a dozen, without ever relying simply on stereotype, rather, she exploits the stereotypes to create fully fledged characters. It will be intriguing to see how Maddy’s Many Mouths develops, who knows with a bit of luck, rude girl, Shariah Salaf could be morphing into six year old Rebecca Sutherton next time you turn on your telly.

 

 

OPERATION ADELMO

FIRST CAME THE 3 TENORS, then THE SOPRANOS, now… OPERATION ADELMO!

 

‘Best Comedy Musical Performer’ award-winner, Adelmo Guidarelli – The Clown Prince of Opera – is to debut his quirky, fast-paced, operatic parody, OPERATION ADELMO in the UK this August when it makes its Premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Putting Opera in the spotlight at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe may be considered by some to be a risky affair but OPERATION ADELMO has a comical twist that makes the performance suitable for both die-hard Opera lovers and self-avowed haters alike, as Adelmo explains: “I am aware that everyone hates Opera and with this in mind, I’ve created a performance that weaves Opera with pop-culture, animated with humour and irony for everyone to enjoy”.

This charismatic and completely acoustic presentation features an array of instruments, not usually linked with Opera, including the ukulele, banjo, guitar, and kazoo, in a performance that brings about a comical, multi-language, operatic treatment as Adelmo skilfully demonstrates the parallels between well-known arias and their pop-culture counterparts… using baseball as a platform!

A former security guard by day and passionate Opera singer by night, Adelmo has sprung to fame in the US where he has been compared to Danish comedian/conductor/pianist Victor Borge and English-Canadian singer/comedienne Anna Russell, as well as being cited as ‘The up-and-coming baritone of the decade’.  His voice gains him constant recognition around the globe having performed sell-out performances and earned critical acclaim from journalists; ‘confident’, ‘commanding’, ‘relevant’, ‘brilliant’, ‘breath-taking’, and ‘romantically enticing'.

Having trained professionally at Metropolitan Opera, Adelmo has worked with such operatic legends as, Lucianno Pavarotti, Gulietta Simionato, Licia Albanese, Sherrill Milnes and Robert Merrill and has performed for Queen Elizabeth II and Pope John Paul II. 

OPERATION ADELMO promises a full 75mins of pure, unadulterated fun and will be performing at the New Town Theatre – Mysterious, Edinburgh at select dates throughout August.  Tickets can be booked by contacting the box office on 0131 220 0143 or by visiting operationadelmo.com / universalartsfestival.co

 

Show                            OPERATION ADELMO

Venue:                         New Town Theatre – Mysterious: 98 George Street, Edinburgh

Preview:                      4-5 Aug

Dates:                          6-28 Aug

Performance Starts:     17:30

Running Times:            75mins (no interval)

Tickets:                        £5 (Preview) / £11 (£9)* / £13 (£11)*

Show Website:             operationadelmo.com

Venue Box Office:        +44 (0) 131 220 0143 / universalartsfestival.com

Fringe Box Office:        +44 (0) 131 226 0000 / edfringe.com

 

*select performances only

Belinda Lang, Robert Daws, Aden Gillett

They sat down again!

First produced in 1998, Alarms and Excursions examines our fraught relationship with machines and our attitudes to technological innovation. Michael Frayn’s eight revue-style sketches also show the numbing homogeneity of public buildings, particularly hotels, and our apparent inability to communicate with each other. Oddly hilarious and provocatively  meaningful this play introduces us to the trials and tribulations of 24 different characters played by four very talented actors.

In the first play we watch a dinner party ending in complete chaos. Two couples are having a quiet evening together. Struggling with their “pockets full of electronics” they fail at the simple task of opening a bottle of wine because the technology of the corkscrew is too complicated. A strange noise – a chink – keeps irritating them before it is eventually drowned out by a cacophony of electronic noises. One of the guests even ends up in the emergency room trying to beat technology.

After this mayhem we are welcomed to a hotel by the third elevator from the left and guided into the rooms of two nice, English couples on holiday in a strange land where “Chuck out time is noon”. Wondering what country they are in at the moment they find a “charming sense of déjà vu” in their hotel rooms which seem identical to all other hotel rooms except for the location of the bathroom. Kevin wryly remarks: “It’s diabolical how they move the bathrooms around in these places.” Paper thin walls increase the proximity of the two couples thereby making them too aware of each other. 

Aden Gillett

Robert Daws, Belinda Lang, Aden Gillett (after his wonderful performance in Accolade) and Serena Evans play all 24 characters and it is a delight watching their battle with technology and their failure to communicate. Caught up in embarrassing situations and utterly confused by a technology overload the characters struggle with dinner guests who simple won’t leave, a spouse who will finish every single sentence for you, a business conference from hell with food and drinks but no tables, and a unique security demonstration on an airplane. My favourite sketch was Immobiles – a somewhat nostalgic play about answering machines, a German tourist, the wrong airports, and old ladies in sordid pubs.

Until 30 July 2011

Richmond Theatre
The Green
Richmond
Surrey
TW9 1QJ

Box Office
0844 871 7651

http://www.atgtickets.com/2467/659/Richmond/Richmond-Theatre/Alarms-and-Excursions-Tickets