UK Theatre Network

Here in Manchester theatrical farces are as thick on the ground as autumn leaves.  Last week the National Theatre’s One Man, Two Guvnors sold out at the Lowry, and this week Bolton Octagon is reviving Alan Bennett’s clever comedy about the permissive society.

The household of Dr Wicksteed is, superficially, a respectable middle-class establishment.  However, while the insatiable doctor slakes his lust on his prettiest patients, his wife, son and sister are all quivering with sexual frustration.  But when a colonial widow, the widow’s nubile daughter, the president of the BMA, and a trained fitter of bust-enhancing appliances all arrive in town, the skeletons in Dr Wicksteed’s cupboard come home to roost.

Although Habeas Corpus is one of his earliest stage works, the classic Alan Bennett traits are already well-established.  The characters regularly vent their “inner voices” in a self-conscious manner that goes way beyond an occasional “aside” to the audience.  And the playwright’s arch northern tones and slyly tweaked literary references are also present and correct.

The concept of the production is truly brilliant - a Donald McGill postcard brought to life - and Ciaran Bagnall’s pared-down yet stylish design has “award-winning” written all over it.  Colourful beach huts along the back of the stage provide nine different entrances, with the characters popping in and out of them like demented cuckoos from their clocks.  Another stroke of genius is Howard Ward’s boater-wearing seaside organist, whose musical accompaniment (and knowing winks to the stalls) is just this side of Les Dawson.

Russell Dixon plays Mrs Swaab – and not for the first time, having performed the same role at the Library Theatre in 1976 (although it was Alan Bennett himself who originally dragged up for the part).  There are hints of Russell Dixon’s Lady Bracknell in Mrs Swaab’s pursed-lipped disapproval; and Francesca Ryan’s Lady Rumpers is another interpretation of Lady Bracknell, only in khaki.

Rob Edwards’ performance as the dodgy Dr Wicksteed occasionally resembles a pop-eyed Prince Andrew; Eve Steele is very good as the doctor’s under-developed sister Connie, sporting a range of over-the-top expressions worthy of a Carry On character; and Colin Connor is on his usual excellent (and versatile) form as the trouser-less Mr Shanks.

This was only the second night of David Thacker’s production, and when the pace has speeded up it will be a real treat.

Habeas Corpus is on at Bolton Octagon until Saturday 12 November 2011
Tickets: from £9.50
Performances: Mon-Sat @ 7.30
Matinees: Wed & Sat @ 2pm
Box Office: 01204 520661
www.octagonbolton.co.uk

I do mean to make love to Ford's
wife: I spy entertainment in her; she discourses,
she carves, she gives the leer of invitation: I
can construe the action of her familiar style; and
the hardest voice of her behavior, to be Englished
rightly, is, 'I am Sir John Falstaff's.'

 

It is said that Shakespeare wrote The Merry Wives of Windsor at the request of Queen Elizabeth I because she enjoyed the character of Falstaff in Henry IV Part I and Henry IV Part II so much that she wanted to see another play featuring the fat knight.  The Merry Wives of Windsor is a farce and relies heavily on mix-ups and slapstick. In this respect, the play resembles the format of a typical situation comedy. It even has the types of characters that appear in TV sitcoms: everyday middle-class people or suburbanites.

Director Christopher Luscombe went directly for this approach, emphasizing the sitcom elements of the play to make the characters more recognizable to an international audience. One finds a distinct affinity of the high strung Frank Ford to John Cleese’s Basil Fawlty of the TV series Fawlty Towers.  

 

Penniless once again, John Falstaff decides to fill his purse and to warm his heart by making love to the wives of two wealthy and highly esteemed Windsor citizens – Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. Appalled by his crude propositions the two women decide to have their revenge on Falstaff and to show him for what he is – a veritable ass. Meanwhile three suitors – the pompous Frenchman Dr. Caius, the young fool Slender and the romantic Fenton – are wooing the attractive daughter of Mistress Page.    

 

This delightful production is beautifully staged and a joy to watch. Actors and musicians are dressed in colourful Elizabethan costumes, the latter are prominently positioned on the roof top accompanying the action with Elizabethan melodies. The production is perfectly cast. Christopher Benjamin plays Falstaff with authority, wit and a certain dignity even when he is dressed in his most outlandish clothes to impress the ladies. Serena Evans and Sarah Woodward are gloriously funny as the two wives who turn back into giggling schoolgirls whilst plotting their revenge against the unfortunate knight. Andrew Havill is hilarious as the jealous Frank Ford and Philip Bird gives a wonderful performance as Dr. Caius. Sue Wallace portrays the meddling Mistress Quickly with wit and charm, and  Peter Gale is delightful as Robert Shallow, Esq. The final scene transforms the stage into a truly magical forest – a masque with song and dance.

The show runs until 4 December 2010 at the Richmond Theatre and will then proceed directly to Bath (6 to 11 December).

Richmond Theatre,The Green, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 1QJ
http://www.ambassadortickets.com/1754/659/Richmond/Richmond-Theatre/Shakespeare

　By Clare Brotherwood

For the perfect antidote to the recession and the cuts to come, you can do no better than see The Mill at Sonning’s latest production.

First performed in 1981, Two Into One has been brought bang up to date by master of mirth Ray Cooney who places a Tory MP in a London hotel, where he is attempting a romantic tryst with one of David Cameron’s secretaries while his wife is in the room next door trying to bed his personal private secretary.

With a dumb waiter, played completely deadpan by Brian Godfrey, an ineffectual manager (Harry Gostelow) and the MP’s effervescent wife (Elizabeth Elvin), it is left to the bumbling PPS to try and sort things out, and Nick Wilton deserves a special mention for playing his part with such gay abandonment - achieved only with tremendous skill, and tight directing by Ron Aldridge.

Lynette McMorrough also adds to the fun as the Spanish maid, but the biggest surprise of all is the Mill’s artistic director Sally Hughes’ performance as an Ann Widdicombe-esque Labour MP. In grey wig, flat shoes and northern accent she is completely unrecognisable and makes an impact every time she strides onto the stage.

The opening night’s audience’s roars of uninhibited laughter bodes well for this production with its topical jibes at politicians. Even Douglas Heap’s set won a round of applause as various parts of The Westminster Hotel unfolded as in a pop-up book.

Two Into One continues at The Mill at Sonning until 27 November

Box Office: 0118 969 8000

Every day I start out Mary Poppins but I end up Cruella DeVil!

Having begun life in Canada in the 1990s this evergreen show about five formerly professional women who find themselves at home with children has now arrived at Richmond Theatre after playing nine UK tours. The award-winning play was written by six women – formerly professional actors – who had endured the woes and joy of parenting and decided to share their experiences in a show about motherhood.  

The play cleverly reveals the agony and ecstasy of parenting as the audience is whooping and clapping with recognition. It deals with all the important elements of raising a child including every mum’s daily immersion in „bathwater, food, spit, snot, blood, vomit, urine and faeces.“ The five actresses - Gillian Taylforth of Eastenders, Tracy Shaw and Sally Ann Matthews of Coronation Street fame, Susie Fenwick, and Mandy Holliday – represent almost every aspect of motherhood. In a group counselling session complete with phony blue sky and green meadows in the background they recount their experiences in monologues whilst the rest of the cast listen attentively as members of the giant club of mums!

Gillian Taylforth impresses with a very vivid re-enactment of the birth of Robin’s first child and captures Robin’s wry bitterness beautifully as she keeps writing letters to her partner / husband describing her uneventful days as a full-time mum. Mandy Holliday’s „shit management“ sequence is hilarious as she finds herself submerged by a „brown tidal wave“ and later runs after her child in naked panic at a public swimming pool. Tracy Shaw’s artistically inclined Jill bemoans in a very funny scene that half of her brain was washed away with her placenta and the other half leaked out of her nipples - but her mind must be somewhere! Sally Ann Matthews’s account of the life and death struggle of her prematurely born son Ben sharply contrasts with the farcical elements of the show. Susie Fenwick’s character, the insecure Deborah, laments with cut-class diction that she has to make 10,000 decisions a day and each single one of them might lead her child to a life of serial killing, organized crime or worse - to becoming an estate agent.    

The show runs until 24 July 2010 at the Richmond Theatre and will then go on to Cheltenham.

Richmond Theatre,The Green, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 1QJ
http://www.ambassadortickets.com/1741/659/Richmond/Richmond-Theatre/Mums-the-Word

If a picture is worth a thousand words then the accompanying production shot should tell you a great deal about Brandon Thomas’s 1892 farce Charley’s Aunt, which has just opened at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre.  If you examine the photograph carefully you will notice that Oliver Gomm, who might be said to share the title role, is not playing a conventional Victorian widow.  But then, Donna Lucia D’Alvadorez is, in her own words, “no ordinary woman”.

Dating from the same period as The Importance of Being Earnest and the Savoy operas, Charley’s Aunt is every bit their equal for verbal dexterity, ridiculous situations and favourite stock characters - the silly-ass lord, the tyrannical uncle and the gauche lover are all present and correct.

The simple premise - two Oxford students invite their prospective fiancées to lunch and require a chaperone at short notice - is complicated by (among other accidentals) a jealous guardian, an impoverished (but titled) father, and the imminent arrival of a millionaire aunt who has never met her orphaned nephew because she’s been living in Brazil - “where the nuts come from”.  And in the best tradition of English farce there’s plenty of elaborate business, clowning about and slap-stick. 

Oliver Gomm is lovably daft as Lord Fancourt Babberley, and his virtuosic comedy cadenza with the piano in Act 3 earned him a round of applause on press night.  Stephen Hudson as the put-upon valet Brassett acts as a kind of world-weary Chorus, Malcolm Rennie is terrifyingly pop-eyed as the apoplectic Uncle Spettigue, and Briony McRoberts is charming and mischievous as the relative from the New World.

Director Braham Murray has slightly updated the setting to the 1920s for no discernable reason, although it is to the detriment of the plot device: the extremities of Victorian propriety might necessitate a cross-dressing chaperone, but the Bright Young Things of Brideshead-era Oxford could happily have managed without.  And if the intention was to give a Wodehousian flavour to the proceedings it doesn’t work because the most of the playing is far too naturalistic.  But at least the business is performed with flair and fluency, and all the physical comedy is first-rate.

Designer Johanna Bryant gives us three delightful sets, and the ladies’ flapper costumes are ravishing.  Truly, if the Royal Exchange were ever to go up in flames it would be the wardrobe department that I would rush in and save.

Those who have seen Charley’s Aunt before know it’s one of the English stage’s most copper-bottomed comedy classics, a treat never to be missed, and will already have booked their seats.  If you haven’t seen it before then you should make arrangements to remedy this situation as soon as possible. 

 

Charley’s Aunt is on until Saturday 7 August 2010

Prices: £8.50-£29.50

Evenings: Mon-Fri @ 7.30, Sat @ 8pm [no performance Tues 6 July]

Matinees: Wed @ 2.30pm, Sat @ 4pm and Tues 6 July @ 2.30pm

Box Office: 0161 833 9833

www.royalexchange.co.uk

Fawlty Towers

Whitley Bay Theatre Company at The Playhouse, Whitley Bay

Whitley Bay Theatre Company have lovingly brought back to the stage one of the most classic situation-comedies of all-time, Fawlty Towers. Yes, that’s right, prepare to reacquaint yourselves with Basil, Sybil, Polly and Manuel once again as they invite you to be their guest at the infamous Torquay hotel.

Four memorable episodes – two from the first series and two from the second – comprise the evening’s entertainment: The Builders, Communication Problems, The Hotel Inspectors and Basil the Rat.

Jason Fenn and Joanna Wingate reprise their roles as Basil and Sybil Fawlty, respectively, having played the characters in previous productions at the Playhouse, and they are supported by a cast of twenty-two. The standards demonstrated within this production are outstanding and no detail has been overlooked.

The impressive set, designed by Robin Herron, makes extremely clever use of the stage space and is dressed with an acute eye for detail by Karen Knox. Filmed inserts are utilised effectively to depict exterior scenes, whilst also facilitating the necessary scene changes.

However, the most impressive aspect of the show is, without doubt the performances of the cast. Jason Fenn’s portrayal of Basil is a magnificent example of physical comedy and his characterisation is eerily accurate, resulting in a performance that is an absolute tour-de-force. Similarly, Joanna Wingate brilliantly brings to life Basil’s ‘toxic midget’, Sybil, complete with the catchprase, ‘Oooh, I knooow’, and braying laugh. Special mention must also be made of Danny Patterson who gave a fantastically comedic performance as Manuel, despite taking over the role at very short notice.

Aside from the principals, a number of supporting characters managed to steal entire scenes. Elizabeth Purcell, as the intermittently deaf Mrs Richards, and Diane Legg as Mrs Carnegie, the public health inspector, were two notable examples.

Congratulations, though, must be extended to each and every cast member (as well as the production team) for delivering a side-splitting show that was rapturously received from the audience. Make your reservations now and enjoy your stay!

Steve Burbridge.

Runs until Saturday 5^th June 2010.

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

A horse, a horse, a kingdom for a ….mare?

 

Did William Shakespeare actually write all those immortal classics? Tens of thousands of books have been published trying to prove that Shakespeare was just a front man who in fact never wrote a single word of those plays because he could not have had the necessary insight and education. The prize-winning play Shakespeare Incorporated by American author Don Fried presents one of many theories on who really wrote Hamlet and King Lear. We meet authors who are rumoured to have had some part in writing Shakespeare’s works – Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson, Edward de Vere, Mary Sydney, and William Stanley.

 

This is by no means a serious drama although it helps to know a few things about Shakespeare and his work to understand all the jokes. William Shakespeare, a country bumpkin with an affinity to horses, works as an actor and is trying to become a writer when he encounters Christopher Marlowe. Marlowe does not think Shakespeare’s writing has any merit but agrees to work for the untalented lad to surpass his financial crisis. Enter Edward de Vere and William Stanley. De Vere is aching to be a writer but he does not dare publish anything under his own name. He is looking for a front man and finds him in Will Shakespeare. Shakespeare thereby becomes a renowned poet and world famous -  even Queen Elizabeth is dying to meet him! Yet not everybody is happy with Shakespeare’s success. Francis Bacon, personal literary advisor to the Queen, suspects that something is rotten.

 

The ensemble is impressive throughout. Anthony Kernan plays Marlowe with unbound energy. De Vere (Filip Krenus) and the highly strung, anxious Stanley (Patrick James) form a hilarious comic duo. Karl Dobby is Francis Bacon in white make up and a garish costume – his near hysterics later changing to quiet calculation and menace. Tyler Coombes convincingly plays the more austere Ben Jonson, clad all in black but equally fascinated by intrigue. The set design (Nika Khitrova) and the beautiful costumes (Valentina Ida) take the audience back to Shakespearean times.   

 

With Shakespeare Inc. Second Skin Theatre break from their tradition of dark and intense theatre and take a wild romp through Elizabethan England. Andy McQuade directs this highly entertaining production.

 

2 March – 21 March, Tue – Fri 7.30 pm, Sat and Sun 7.00 pm

Tickets: £ 12 / £ 10 (concessions)

BOX OFFICE: 020 7704 6665

The Rosemary Branch, 2 Shepperton Road, London N1 3DT

The Tart and the Vicar’s Wife

The Tyne Theatre & Opera House, Newcastle

Although the title may conjure up images of a traditional farce, ‘The Tart and The Vicar’s Wife’ is much more than just that. It is also an often harrowing and heart-rending drama.

Glenda and Robert Parry were the typical successful couple – him an affluent executive, her the glamorous ‘trophy wife’ – until Robert emerges unhurt from a potentially fatal car crash and decides to devote his life to God and become a vicar.

Glenda consequently finds herself thrust into a complete role transformation from wealthy executive’s wife to impoverished vicar’s wife, struggling to make ends meet and solving the problems of all who arrive on her doorstep.

When Robert leaves for a four-week course and a millionaire lottery winner turns up in the village to ask for the Reverends help in exorcising his haunted manor, the laughs really come thick and fast.

Linda Armstrong, better known to many as Sister Brigid in the ITV1 drama The Royal, gives an outstanding performance as Glenda. She is well supported by a host of familiar faces including Brookside’s Marcus Hutton, Emmerdale’s Matt Healy and Sarah Jane Buckley from Hollyoaks.

The comic capers increase when Glenda and three of her friends are offered an unorthodox way of solving their financial difficulties – temporarily become high class escorts!

This is the first time that ‘The Tart and the Vicar’s Wife’ has been on tour in almost thirty years, yet its topical ‘credit-crunch’ theme ensures it is not dated at all. Director Ian Dickens has cleverly made a few minor adjustments to the script to make it suitable for a twenty-first century audience, and the result is an hilarious evening’s entertainment.

Steve Burbridge.

Tour Dates

Wolverhampton Grand                       Tues 14^th – Sat 18th July

Blackpool Grand                                 Mon 27^th - Wed 29th July

Swansea Grand                                   Tues 4^th - Sat 8th August

Grand Opera House Buxton               Wed 2nd - Sat 5th Sept

White Rock Theatre Hastings             Tues 8^th - Sat 12th Sept

Lyceum Theatre Crewe                       Mon 21^st - Sat 26th Sept

Gordon Craig Theatre Stevenage       Tues 29th Sept - Sat 3rd Oct

Garrick Theatre, Lichfield                  Tues 6^th - Sat 10th Oct

Theatre Royal Lincoln                        Mon 19^th - Sat 24th Oct

Civic Theatre Darlington                    Tues 17^th - Sat 21st Nov

 

Pools Paradise

Reviewed at Darlington Civic Theatre

Ian Dickens Productions’ tenth summer repertory season is being brought to a close with Philip King’s farce, ‘Pools Paradise.’

Set in the sleepy village of Merton-cum-Middlewick, it seems that the vicar’s wife has come up trumps on the football pools with a sizeable win. The only trouble is her pious husband doesn’t know she’s been having a weekly flutter and staunchly disapproves of gambling. Already frowned upon by some of the more sanctimonious parishioners, particularly Miss Skillon, because of her background as an actress, poor Penelope Toop finds herself in a bit of a quandary.

While she waits for the results to be officially confirmed via her simple-minded maid Ida and her doltish boyfriend Willie Briggs, Penelope tries to come up with a way of breaking the news to her husband.

In true farce tradition, nothing goes according to plan. The vicarage quickly becomes a scene of complete chaos as coupons are mistakenly switched and switched again, trousers are lost, and lots of madcap chases ensue.

David Callister gives a decent performance as the Reverend Lionel Toop, whilst Kathryn Dimery is a delight as the frazzled Penelope. Julia Main’s performance as Ida is anything but subtle and Helen Jeckells, as Miss Skillon, could never be accused of underacting. David Janson makes the most of the slightly thankless part of Reverend Humphrey, whilst Ben Roberts and Frankie Fitzgerald, as the Bishop of Lax and Willie Briggs respectively, do little to earn top billing in roles that are undemanding to say the least.

The play was written almost fifty years ago and, these days, has something of a sentimental nostalgia about it. When first performed, I suppose it would have been considered far more risqué. By today’s standards, the jokes and gags are tired and unfunny and the piece doesn’t really stand the test of time.

That said, the vast majority of the audience (who were senior citizens) seemed to be having a ball.

Steve Burbridge.

‘Pools Paradise’ runs at Darlington Civic Theatre until Saturday 4^th July 2009.