There There is no happy love.

Writer Tomas Hirst and director Oliver Lyttelton return to the stage after their success of In Parallel at the Arcola Theatre to take a fresh look at the traditional courtroom drama. Matryoshka illustrates the brutal mechanism of a seemingly cold and aloof legal system and its effects on those caught up in it.

 

Sophie (Nanou Harry) and Alexander (Alex Walker) are locked in an increasingly ugly divorce battle. Their focus is not on dividing their considerable assets but on who will be given custody of their daughter Catherine. They hire two ambitious lawyers – Charlotte (Tara Hart) and Leo (John Sandeman) – to help resolve the impasse. Instead of reaching a solution, however, the warring pair drag their legal council into the fraying web of their relationship. 

At the same time, Luke (Stefan Doolan), the bipolar son of Charlotte’s cleaner Sue (Ruth Evans), decides to wean himself off his medication. With his state of mind unravelling his mother is given the choice of risking to be judged as an overbearing control-freak or remaining passive while her son is slipping into complete isolation from those around him.

The six characters desperately try to stay in control of their own lives but they find themselves merely fuelling the chaos. The divided couple and Sue are trying to do what is best for their children but their actions only seem to make matters worse.

There are fine performances by the entire ensemble. I was particularly impressed by Ruth Evans as the tormented mother and the cool aloofness of Alex Walker’s husband. Jean Apps convincingly portrays the judge who bears the responsibility for the fate of the child.

Feb. 23 to March 13, 2010 at 7.30 pm
Box Office: 0207 737 7276
Tickets: £ 10  Conc.: £ 8
Landor Theatre, 79 Landor Road, London SW9

 

 

 

The Rosemary Branch Theatre in Islington - winner of „Best Theatre“ in the 2010 Fringe Report Awards - presents a solo performance by Judith Paris about the life of Madame Tussaud. Although her name graces one of the main tourist attractions in London little is known about the life of Marie Tussaud.

 

Aptly directed by Ninon Jerome, Judith Paris recounts the story of this remarkable woman who was arrested as a royalist during the horrors of the French revolution and barely escaped the guillotine. Marie Tussaud tells her younger son the story of her life before the opening of her new show. Now aged 72 she has been working hard since she was a child to become a  gifted artist as well as a successful business woman. She describes how she was taught the art of waxwork by her uncle Philippe Curtius against the explicit wishes of her mother who saw her daughter in a more traditional role. Marie eventually married but left her husband and her younger son to tour the towns of Britain with her wax cabinet, fighting off competition against a background of fire, riot, shipwreck, and betrayal. Madame Tussaud became one of the greatest showpeople along with P.T. Barnum - which makes one wonder: How much of her story is really true? 

 

Judith Paris, who has also written the play, gives a beautiful performance as the admirable Marie Tussaud.

 

9 – 14 February 2010, Tue – Sat 7.30 pm, Sun 3 pm

Tickets: £ 12 / £ 10 (concessions)

BOX OFFICE: 020 7704 6665

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

THE GREAT AMERICAN SEASONAL SONGBOOK                      

                                                              NEW END, HAMPSTEAD

 

 

The Great American Seasonal Songbook, the second contribution from Toby Cruse productions, proves to be a another winner for the New End Theatre. This joyful musical romp is a tribute to the music that dominated the States from 1920-1960.

Written by the classic composers of the time such as Cole Porter, George Gershwin and Rogers and Hammerstein, it was period that saw an new style of music grounded in the structures of  Tin Pan Alley, and relying heavily on jazz.  Much of it was originally written for Broadway musicals or Hollywood movies, and became the pop of the time as the songs were picked up by legendary singers such as Ella Fitzerald, Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra.

With the four seasons being the theme of the production there are nicely selected numbers that explore the emotions though out the year, and inevitably end up at the Christmas period.

There is outstanding musicianship from Andy Rumble on piano and Dave Olney on bass. They compliment each other perfectly, and despite their only being two of them they produce a sumptuously beautiful sound. With focused direction from Heather Simpkin the show happily bounces along. There are consummate performances by Louisa Parry and David Martin. Parry seems most at home with songs that have a  dramatic edge, and there are moving interpretations of Spring Will be a Little Late This Year, Stormy Weather and You’ll Never Walk Alone. Martin clearly has fun with the frothy numbers but is equally at home with more heartfelt songs like April in Paris and Autumn Leaves. Martin fully embraces the sprit of the show, is constantly mischievous and as gloriously camp as Christmas.

The Xmas section visits the classic holiday songs that have touched listeners from one to 92, and is a fitting way to end the evening.

The Great American Seasonal Songbook is a treat for anyone who appreciates wonderful vocal performances and great musical craftsmanship. This is the perfect Christmas gift for a loved one.

 

OLIVER VALENTINE                                                 

                                                                Box Office: 0870 033 2733

SECRETS COCK TAVERN THEATRE

With the enticing title of Secrets and publicity that promised ‘explosive drama,’ I was all set for an exciting night out at the latest play at the Cock Tavern Theatre. However this rather tame and unfocused contribution offers little in the way of startling confessions or dramatic originality.

Created by Flexible Productions, eight actors reveal their own, true-life secrets through devised enactments. Amongst those unravelling their inner-most shames are a traumatised woman revisiting her sadistic relationship with a boyfriend, a closet queen, a supposedly reformed bully and a questionable victim of sexual abuse. Apart from Helen Briscoe’s disturbing revelations it’s all a bit timid, confused and ultimately shallow. In fact there are the secrets which are so vaguely wafted about that’s it hard to actually pin-point what they actually are.

This awkward effort lets down the usual high standard of work that the Cock has consistently produced in the past. The writing is all over the place, contrived and clumsily structured with some scenes adding little to the storyline or development of the characters. Indeed the only revelation this play really offers is the ability of the exceptionally skilled cast to create engaging, truthful performances despite being in a production that under Danielle Coleman’s messy direction, looks like a drama school creation. This further is emphasised by a bricolage of victim headlines glued onto a cheap looking backdrop as the centre piece for the set.
Helen Briscoe is exceptional in all her roles, James Dutton convincing as the bully and a suspected victim, Andrew Cleave very watchable as the put-upon psychologist and Shireen Walton adds some equally comic and moving moments to the play.
The telling of secrets have been the basis for many a successful drama. This is not one of them.
OLIVER VALENTINE
www.cocktaverntheatre.com

THREE MINUTE HERO                    COCK TAVERN THEATRE

 

A three minute hero is a singer who connects with a whole generation of music fans with a breakthrough number that has a universal message. Phil Setren’s, new play of the same title is based on a promoter’s dream to find such a talent, and explores the clash of the commercial hit making music machine with Muslim cultural beliefs and art.

Dave is an aspiring music promoter who follows his very slim copy of ‘How To Make It In Music,’ guide to the word. He hires a girl band called Hot Goddess, who fail to make the grade but provide him with a big music industry learning curve. He then meets a young Muslim singer called Ash who is in the queue at the X Factor auditions. Simon Cowell’s team fail to see any ability in Ash, but Dave sees his potential and becomes his promoter. All is going well until Ash’s traditionalist brother Raz objects to Ash selling out to the commercial western market and it’s ‘corrupt’ values.

The first half of the play is a rather predictable tale of promoter creates untalented girl band, the girls fall out and the band collapses. Despite strong performances from the actresses and the occasional funny line, the tired storyline and uninspired writing offers little originality. It is not until the second half with arrival of Ash and his brother that the dialogue really comes alive, and dramatic tension is created. Indeed the writing in the second half feels so much more advanced, that it is hard to believe it has been written by the same author.

With the themes in the latter half of the play, Setren has so much original material that this potentially could be a whole drama on it’s own.

Julie Osman’s capable direction keeps the play moving, and there is great sound design by Matt Lee Newby.

Paul Egan is perfectly cast as the eternally optimistic Dave, and Ramanvir Grewal and Anil Kumar are compelling as the brothers.

Three Minute Hero runs at the Cock Tavern Theatre until 14^th November.

                                                                                                             OLIVER VALENTINE                                                                                      

IMAGINE DROWNING by Terry Johnson

 First produced at Hampstead Theatre in 1991, Imagine Drowning won the John Whiting Award and is now presented by critically acclaimed Waxwing Theatre at the Rosemary Branch in Islington. 

The play weaves together two different timelines a few weeks apart. A woman arrives in a dilapidated B&B in Cumbria. She is looking for her husband David, a journalist, who disappeared two weeks ago. David was on to a big story concerning the nuclear power plant at Sellafield. Jane’s only clue to her husband’s whereabouts is a postcard featuring the B&B that David sent to her. She encounters a variety of bizarre characters – a former astronaut who arrived at the beach from Montana via the Moon, a political activist in a wheelchair, a morbid teenager who indulges in staging gory scenes, and a forgetful landlady who keeps a plethora of pets who never die. Nobody seems to have seen David but he was there as we find out in the second timeline that tells his story. 

Imagine Drowning starts as a whodunit but there is much more to the play. Terry Johnson described it as “a sort of dream play about the pain we’re all immersed in.” Certain scenes seem quite dreamlike when the actors paddle like aquatic animals in the dimmed lights accompanied by whale song. The sea and water is a prevalent motive throughout this exciting and magnificent production.  

There are outstanding performances from Joanne Hildon as the landlady, Tom Harris as the political activist, and Rory McCallum as the astronaut turned beach bum.

Rosemary Branch Theatre
22 September to 11 October 
Tues - Sat 7.30pm
Sundays 2.30pm
£12 / 10 concessions

BOX OFFICE :    0207 704 6665  0207 704 6665  
Online via Ticketweb

Together We’re Heavy at the Cock Tavern Theatre

 

The female-led company CANUK was founded in 2008 and is committed to devise, develop and inspire strong new work in collaboration with playwrights and actors. CANUK recently took the critically acclaimed show The Strong Breast Revolution to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Now it presents the world premiere of Chris Purnell’s new play Together We’re Heavy at the Cock Tavern Theatre.

 

Rob, who is a bit on the chubby side, is suffering from a mid-life crisis at 25! He finds himself trapped in a dead-end job, spending his spare time with his mom and her friends instead of beautiful neighbour Lorraine whom he adores but who is in a relationship with he-man Walter. Walter indulges in humiliating Rob, preferably in front of Lorraine. After unsuccessfully trying to meet girls in a step dancing course Rob resigns himself to his fate and refuses to leave the flat that he is sharing with his mom. Encouraged by the arrival of fitness instructor Gary, Rob evolves into a new man and finally dares accost the pretty girl-next-door with unforeseen consequences

 

This is a play about obsession and Jai Lynch gives an outstanding performance as the child-like, shy Rob who is defenceless against Walter’s attacks and the overwhelming love of his well-meaning but somewhat overbearing mother (Jean Apps). Some of the dialogue seems a bit uneven at times but this is a fast-paced play with believable characters competently directed by Tanith Lindon.

 

The cast includes Jean Apps, Miranda Keeling, Jai Lynch, Alex Papdakis, and Austin Spangler.

 

The show is at the Cock Tavern in Kilburn from 29 September to 24 October 2009. Tickets are available online via Ticket Web or by phone at 08444 771 000.

 

THE YORK REALIST                             RIVERSIDE STUDIOS

Their could be no better 70th birthday present for Peter Gill, founder and director of the Riverside Studios, than this superb revival of his 2001 Oliver-nominated play, The York Realist. This tribute is also a gift for the audience too.

It’s 1961 and George is part of a dying breed of traditional farmers, living in a rural farm on the Dales. He is a down to earth bloke whose world is turned upside down when he falls in love with John, the assistant director of The York Mystery Plays for which he is rehearsing for. He is torn with leaving his mother, and the possibility of marriage to local lass Doreen, for an illegal affair with another man (homosexuality was not decriminalised until 1967), and a career as an actor in London. But when his mother dies, and he is free to pursue his own pathway, the realist in him makes him doubt his ability follow his true desires.

Gill’s play is an observant piece about vanishing country life and the arising new moral dilemma’s of a changing society. The language is warm, realistic and endearing, and Elspeth Morrison’s dialect coaching is spot-on for the colloquialisms of  the period. The writing does however seem to lack depth when developing the major themes of the play.

Kate Guiness’s cottage  set is delightfully detailed right down to the old cooker and sink and Victorian ornaments, and with this production Adam Spreadbury- Maher proves yet again to be one of the most outstanding director’s on the fringe.

The play is excellently cast, with notable performances by Stephen Hagan as George, and Stephanie Fayerman as his mother. There is also superb comic character acting  from Sarah Waddell as Doreen, the ever present neighbour and George admirer.

With The York Realist, Good Night Out Productions goes from strength to strength.  This is a treat not to be missed.

OLIVER VALENTINE
The York Realist runs until 11 October at the Riverside Studios. Tickets: £14 (£12 concessions

THE PRESENT        

COCK TAVERN THEATRE, KILBURN

 

Following it’s tradition of revisiting forgotten plays by modern writers, Kilburn’s dynamic fringe theatre, the Cock Tavern, offers a hearty resurrection of Nick Ward’s drama The Present.

The play was last performed at the Bush in 1995, and this revival by Good Night Out productions is almost faultless. Set in 1980 just after the assassination of John Lennon, Danny a British teenager arrives in Australia in search of adventure. He finds lodgings and work with Michael, a Nietzsche obsessed throw-back to the 1960’s, who introduces him to the world of sex, drugs and hippy art.  Michael borders on the pathological, and his associates Becky and Libby are not far behind him in the off-the-wall stakes, providing unpredictable company for the naïve newcomer.

The stark white painted set is indicative of a mental asylum, and is the perfect backdrop for the bizarre behaviour of Ward’s characters. Adam- Speadbury-Maher’s focused direction keeps the drama moving at a pace, and the carefully selected choice of Lennon’s songs works perfectly as a soundscape for the piece

Nathan Godkin is outstanding as the on-the-edge control freak Michael, and Sophie Brabenec gives a lovely, layered performance as the amnesic, vulnerable artist Libby. Shelly Lang is impressive as the man devouring Becky.

Ward’s poetic and colourful language is a treat for the ears, although towards the end of the play the themes become over-repetitive and he seems to be trying too hard to make his point.

This production continues to prove that the Cock Tavern is a valuable asset to North London’s theatre land. This is a gift not to be missed.

OLIVER VALENTINE                    www.cocktaverntheatre.com

The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890. There was a mild scandal because of the homoerotic tone of the story. Wilde later revised this edition, making several alterations, and adding new chapters. This version performed by Keith Drinkel omits the additions and concentrates on the relationship between the three men - Dorian Gray, the artist Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wooton, the society wit.

Drinkel skillfully portrays all characters in this play and keeps the audience's attention throughout. He demonstrates Hallward's dependence on Dorian Gray as his muse, he is "all my art"; Lord Henry Wooton's influence on Dorian Gray as he leads him astray to a life of hedonism; and Dorian's inevitable fall.  Oscar Wilde's lines are excellently delivered when Lord Henry states:"The only way to resist temptation is to yield to it." 
(Carolin Kopplin)

Aug 15 - Aug 22    6 pm nightly
0131 226 0000