Matt Devitt’s production of Ladies Down Under revisits Amanda Whittington’s characters from Ladies Day, a play about four Northern lasses from a fish packing factory in Hull who win half a million pounds on an accumulator at Ascot.  The ladies are brought back together again as they embark on a soul searching trip to Australia with their winnings. The characters of Pearl, Jan, Linda and Shelley are easily bought into, as long as you buy the full set.  Together they are a dynamic, but as individual characters they would possibly fade.  The play relies heavily on stereotypes, particularly in its male characters, which gives it its humour.  Simon Jessop and Oliver Seymour-Marsh give a humorous presentation as camp flight attendants and go on to play an array of recognisable characters. Seymour-Marsh plays an enthusiastic surfer and a spiritual bushman traveller.  Jessop is an ageing, stoned British traveller and Joe, the boyfriend of Jan from the factory who is disillusioned with his trip of a lifetime to Australia which he began the year before.  In a colourful climax, two fantastically gregarious drag queens dominate the stage.  Jessop, slightly unsure on his heels performs beautifully executed poses as Koala Bare and Seymour-Marsh is just as at home in his thigh high boots performing gay anthems as Bondi Bitch as he is in his bush man boots giving lessons in life to all.

 Amanda Whittington has concentrated on taking the characters to a new place in this sequel. Thrown together in unfamiliar surroundings their personalities clash and truths are revealed, the ladies are forced to look deeper at themselves and into their lives back home.  One by one they are confronted with their faults and fears and each one follows an arc of discovery. Diana Croft sustains the negativity of the babbling, unconfident Jan, who complains constantly about her bowel problems and her lack of faith in anything, including her relationship with Joe.  Helen Watson is warm and compelling in her role as Pearl who, hiding a secret, looks for adventure and new experiences however small. Lucy Thackeray brings freshness to the character of Linda, a timid do-gooder who is happier giving her money to others rather than spending it on herself. Sarah Scowen begins slightly caricature as Shelley, overdressed in garish designer wear, desperate for fame and recognition, but softens as she opens up about her past, even if it is to a complete stranger in the bush.  The plot is laden with coincidences and flukes, but ultimately this is the play’s charm, making it easy to watch and accessible. All that is asked of the audience is to suspend their disbelief, sit back, relax and enjoy.

Matt Devitt  has chosen a minimalistic set designed by Claire Lyth, which enhances the emphasis of character rather than place. Quick scene changes take place smoothly in darkness with pictures of Surfers Paradise and Uluru projected onto the back wall to create a sense of location and an effective use of lighting creates atmosphere.   

Each character undergoes a transformation.  The overriding question of, can money make you happy, looms over the whole play but the conclusion that it gives is slightly confused.   It certainly seems to be an aiding factor in all their cases but I had the feeling that that wasn’t the aim.  The characters had to go on a trip which would give them the space to assess their lives and the outback was a perfect setting, but these characters would never have done this without their winnings. Ultimately this was a fun production with the underlying significance being friendship and humanity, which takes you from laughter to tears and back again... and again.

CAST

Jan Diana Croft
Joe Simon Jessop
Shelley Sarah Scowen
Tom Oliver Seymour-Marsh
Linda  Lucy Thackeray
Pearl Helen Watson

Director Matt Devitt
Designer Claire Lyth

 

DATES, TIMES AND PRICES
Fri 27 Aug | 8pm | Preview £14
Sat 28 Aug | 8pm | Preview £20 | £16.50 conc
Tue 31 Aug | 7.30pm | £20 | £16.50 conc
Mon - Thurs Perfs | 8pm | £20 | £16.50 conc
(7.30pm on Tue 31 Aug)
(no performance on Mon 30 Aug)
Fri - Sat Perfs | 8pm | £23
Matinees | Sat 4 Sep | Thurs 9 Sep | 2.30pm £14

The Will is billled as a ' 2-man comedy play with a touch of music.' This is an understatement as this new piece by David Doyle  is an hour choc full of cabaret and comedy, farce and  and pop culture pastiche.

Father Howard (Kevin Potton) and Doctor Donald (David Doyle) meet up to read  at midnight the will of an old colleague.

We are taken on a ride through each characters neuroses, from espionage secrets in Serbia to disillusionment with their present careers, all sprinkled with song and dance routines.

  The Will has laugh out loud moments, Doyle and Potton have good voices and nice comic timing. With first night nerves overcome some some gags could do with speeding up to reduce their repetitiveness. The nods to popular sayings and past comedy greats are a nice touch.

Doyle's text is certainly linguistically challenging for the two actors and they pull it off with aplomb.


The Camden fringe
Etcetera Theatre
August 21 to 23 1030pm

EDINBURGH FRESTIVAL FRINGE – TILL 29 AUGUST 2010

THE SEAGULL by Anton Chekhov in a NEW adaptation by top playwright Jo Clifford

This open air production of the Russian genius's great work has been especially adapted by the celebrated Scottish playwright Jo Clifford. It is as though this masterpiece was written for Alba at Duddingston overlooking the loch. Magical drama

Jo Clifford says:

“I’ve wanted to work with Theatre Alba for years, ever since I started writing plays. At that time I saw their production of “The Shepherd Beguiled” which moved and impressed me profoundly.

That play and that production had a great influence on my work, and it is a real joy for me now all those years later that we finally have the chance to work together.

The Seagull is the perfect project for us to work on. The stunningly beautiful setting of Duddingston loch is absolutely right for the play, as is the whole playing style of the Company in all its emotional truth and power.

Charles Nowolskielski originally asked me to shorten the play. But as I started working on it the play worked its magic on me and before I knew it I found myself re-living the characters’ lives. And then hearing their words. Which I felt compelled to write down.

So I ended up rewriting the play and producing a completely new version of it. It is such a pleasure, and such a delight for me to inhabit Chekhov’s dramatic world. I hope it is the same for the audience too.”

Duddingston  Kirk Manse Gardens (Venue 121) , Old Church Lane, Edinburgh EH15 till 29 August (not 23,24).  7.30 pm.

The latest production of Into The Woods at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, offers an enchanting night of magical, musical story telling that is not to be missed.

Written in 1987 by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, this complex musical uses classic fairytales such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk, to tell a morality tale of self-discovery. From the first chords the audience are led on an emotional journey as the characters realise a collective responsibility for the results of their decisions, wishes, greed and desires. In the first half everyone's wish comes true, and in second act they have to deal with the consequences. The central theme deals with the loss of innocence, and the narrative is given a highly effective new dimension by being told by a lonely child who has run away into the woods, and uses his imagination to create a fantasy world.

The stage is naturally surrounded by the park’s trees, and Soutra Gilmour’s  impressive climbing frame set that peaks with a nest for Rapunzel’s tower, contributes to the visual spell. This is further invoked when darkness falls and Jon Clark’s lighting design adds to the treat.

Timothy Sheader’s direction is endlessly creative, and perfectly complimented by Liam Steel’s movement work. Beverly Rudd is delightfully comic as Red Riding Hood, and Michael Xavier and Simon Thomas work in perfect synchronicity as the princes. Jenna Russell shows great emotional range as the Baker’s wife, and Alice Fearn is memorable as Rapunzel. 

Into The Woods is one of Sondheim’s masterpieces, and this production has managed to create a more than satisfying revival. It is a wonderful 80^th birthday gift for the composer, and is a superb finale to the season at Regent’s Open Air theatre.

OLIVER VALENTINE  

                         

Into The Woods runs until 11^th September   www.openairtheatre.com 

           

 

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

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

Howard Brenton’s new play at The Globe adds to the fashionable cult of Anne Boleyn, by re-painting her not as a scheming power seeking witch, but as a forward thinking idealist and reformer, responsible for the revolutionary ideas that changed English religion.
Early on it is clear that Brenton has a loose hold on history with imagined scenes of Anne meeting bible translator William Tyndale. In his play her influence very much still lives on, and it is implied that her religious legacy not only gave us Protestantism and the King James Bible (although her ‘heretical’ Tyndale Bible was essentially the same book), but was also a possible historical contributor to the Civil War years later.
The story packs in a lot. In the first part young Henry VIII is madly in love with Anne, and desperately trying to find a way to get rid of his sonless wife Katherine of Aragon. In Act II the drama rather cleverly plays with time and Anne is not only seen as a living queen, but the also as a ghost in James Ist reign. The King becomes a dominant character as he negotiates with religious factions who are threatening to pull the country apart, and Anne’s downfall is almost upstaged by this new storyline.
Anne played by Miranda Raison, is sexy, assertive and shrewd. Rather than being the monster often portrayed by history, she is the audience’s friend.  She play’s with them, teases and takes them into her confidence, and even shows her head as a joke. She announces the interval with a naughty wink, saying unashamedly that it’s time for her and Henry to get down to sex after holding off for seven years. The language is modern and direct. Henry admits to having ‘a raging hard-on,’ and Anne wastes no time is describing Queen Katherine as “such a cow.”
The casting is spot-on. Raison shines in the role of Anne, and is well matched with Anthony Howell who plays a dynamic, virile Henry VIII. James Garnon bring’s almost a Rocky Horror Show quality to the role of King James as the camp, twitching, larger than life ruler, and Amanda Lawrence is also notable as Lady Rochford.
The production is kept at a pace by John Dove’s fine direction, and is complimented by William Lyons's delightful score.
Anne Boleyn plays at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre until August 21, 2010.

OLIVER VALENTINE

SUBS                                                    COCK TAVERN THEATRE, KILBURN

You don’t need to be a sub-editor to enjoy Subs, the latest offering from the Cock Tavern Theatre, Kilburn.
Set in the gloomy, generic office of Gentlemen Prefer…, 3 subs face repetitive days of spell checking, headline writing and colleague in-fighting..
Chief sub Derek, is hoping to be promoted and get rid of his moaning Minnie of a co-worker Finch, by sacking him. The ambitious office junior James, brown-noses Derek while ruthlessly having his own agenda to get ahead. Finch has fallen into addictive whinging and internet porn to get through the day, and given up all hope of ever moving on. However the unthinkable happens and Anna a young woman joins the team, signalling that the time has come for things to change both career wise and personally for the subs.
R.J.Purdey’s observant and often hilarious script is rife with catty and condescending remarks, and shows that men can be the biggest bitches in the office if provoked. The funniest lines are given to the semi-tragic and acerbic Finch, and are delivered with immaculate timing by the superbly cast Michael Cusick. Euan Macnaughton is convincing as Derek, the older man who has missed the career boat, and Naomi Waring is very likable as Anna. The play is tightly directed by Hamish Macdougall.
For fine acting, thought provoking drama and a hearty laugh, Subs is the play to see right now.

OLIVER VALENTINE  
                                                                                        Subs plays until 12th August
                                                                                                                 08444771000                                     

Emma Thompson, activist and Academy Award winning actress and Executive Producer of FAIR TRADE says of the show:

'One of the best scripts I've seen in years; I'm extremely proud to be involved in this production'.

Given the subject matter, the production of FAIR TRADE by Shatterbox at Rich Mix's East End venue, before embarking on a run at this year's Edinburgh Festival, was met with a heartfelt reponse by a somewhat stunned preview audience.

It wasn't that the play was so emotionally moving - it was the rather objective way it was presented, which, ultimately, was the best way to present subject matter that was so stark and horrifyingly real, and which to date, has not been seen on stage before.

Verbatim theatre has been gaining in popularity in the last few years and is an excellent forum to present theatre as a platform for social change and never was there an area of our society that needs to be looked at more seriously than the current situation of human sex traffficking. Alive and kicking in the brothels of London and with, at a conservative estimate, involving over 5,000 trafficking victims in the UK today.

The staging was simple, which was a good choice; a 'box-like' set, symbolising the reality of imprisonment that these women are caught up in and are forced to 'work' within. The blackboard backdrop acted as a useful way of introducing the two female protagonists - the simple childlike chalking up of their names at the beginning of their journey and subsequently those names and identities being wiped away and obliterated as they are sucked into a life of prostitution in the UK by unscrupulous dealers in the sex trade. At the end they chalk up the number of nameless clients they are forced to have sex with in order to pay back the price of their slavery; and, even then, the promise of freedom and their passports home are still denied.

Anna Holbeck as Ukrainian Elena and Sarah Amankwah as Samai as the two women, whose true stories were recorded by the two founder members of Shatterbox to use as the foundation of the intial scripts for the production, offer naturalistic, sympathetic performances without over indulging in what could be overtly emotionalised victimised portrayals of the women. Instead they chart the reasons behind how and why these women got into this situation; and because of that engage us further still into how easily so many other women could against their will, be drawn into this world. But these women are indeed truly victims in a situation that is happening right now under our noses and it seems, very little is being done by the authorities to change this.

Both women, one from a poor village in the Ukraine, the other from war-torn Dafur, with no family left to live for, are brought over to the UK with promises of work and a future, by unscrupulous characters. The fact that one of the traffickers, Sophia (Adele Lynch) , is a woman, rankles even more. It is her who brings Elena over to London and ensares her with even more callousness than her male counterparts, because, as she states 'it happened to her'.

What hits home most is something Elena says - ' how many more women will they bring over for the Olympics in London in 2012'. It is the statement of the production and makes you sit up and realise that this is now, it is current and it is ongoing.

This is more than a 'play' - it's a cry for help. It's a plea to us all to get involved in the many organisations already connected to the production to raise awareness, to spread the word, to force the authorities to act, to put pressure on the police to raid the brothels, to seek out the dealers, to put a stop to the fastest growing international crime. Sex trafficking is here right now. It's victims are mainly young, vulnerable, disenfranchised women looking for a new life in the UK and other wealthy European countries. Most of them are lured over with a promise of finding work; a way to earn a living to help their families back home and then consequently led unknowingly into a living hell of 'working' up to 12 hours a day, with up to 40 'clients' a day. There is no 'glamour' in the sex industry. It is exploitation - pure and simple, and the sooner we act and the sooner the authorities intervene is not soon enough.

'It is very rare you can escape from the pimps, very difficult you know. You can't. The days you just have to work, you can't get away from them. You just want to kill yourself'. Albanian survivor of Sex Trafficking.

Go and see this show. Theatre is one of the only ways at times in which situations like this can be brought to the fore and because of that and because we as human beings should and need to be awakened to what is happening in this underground world, makes this not just another production of a worthy cause. Human trafficking is the second largest illegal trade in the world. If enough public pressure is placed on the authorities and if enough of us cared to get involved, then there is still hope for these modern day 'slaves' of our society to be freed from a living hell.

FAIR TRADE

Edinburgh Festival

Pleasance King DomeTheatre

Aug 4 - 30th 2010

15.30

Running time: 1 hr (no interval)

For further information contact:

Sarah Crompton, Producer

www.shatterbox.co.uk

Other organisations:

www.helenbamber.org.uk

www.stopthetraffik.org

www.atalliance.org.uk

www.unseenuk.org

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PAY AS YOU GO                              COCK TAVERN THEATRE

 

The Cock Tavern Theatre boldly continues with it’s policy of showcasing new writing talent with Steven Hevey’s play Pay As You Go.

Set in modern day Southend-on-Sea, Mark and his colleagues work in a mobile phone shop where scripted-selling, blokish banter, and sexual competitiveness dominates. With the exception of Tom a teenage employee, the other male workers are heading towards middle-age but persist with their laddish behaviour. Mark is tiring of this, has problems at home and is heading towards an emotional meltdown.

Hevey’s dialogue is strong and naturalistic, and the play ably takes on the theme of mis-communication - despite technology being designed to improve this. Face to face conversations are often blocked with constant text and call interruptions, and the mobile phone takes on a menacing persona through happy-slapping.

It is only towards the end of the drama that it seems to lose it’s way and feels more like a work in progress. There are lots of little scenes that that add little to the plot, and key themes are not fully developed. These however are small shortcomings to what is essentially a good piece.

Structurally the play could also have done with an interval. And this is not just because after an hour and a half in the hot and airless space of the auditorium, it became decidedly uncomfortable.

Samuel Miller’s direction is focused, and there are strong performances by Marc Geoffrey, Daniel Jennings and Richard Aloi, as the key players running the shop.

It is good to see Good Night Out Productions supporting new writers and directors, and as result maintaining it’s lead in producing some of the best innovative quality work on the London fringe.

 

OLIVER VALENTINE   

                                                        Pay As You runs until 14^th August.

                                                                    Box Office: 08444771000