Up Against the Wall

Octagon Theatre, Bolton

30 January 2009

Once upon a time Motown legends and American soul stars were as common a sight on the streets of Lancashire’s pit villages and mill towns as pie shops and fish bars.  I know this because I was told about it by a man who used to DJ in clubs all around the north of England during the heyday of funk.  And naturally, hearing about his exploits with Tina and Ike Turner, The Three Degrees, The Supremes et al in cool and happening places like Ramsbottom, Accrington and Oswaldtwistle I dismissed these stories as the work of a deluded fantasist.  But that was before I’d heard of Wigan Casino and northern soul.

Nitro Theatre’s comedy-musical about a soul tribute act trying to hit the big time started life in London a decade ago but has surely found its spiritual home in the north-west.  Director Paulette Randall’s programme note says it took ten years to develop this play; frankly I’m amazed it took ten minutes, one for every line of dialogue.  Because Up Against the Wall isn’t about drama or stories or characters.  It’s about getting together a fantastic five-piece band with a bunch of versatile singers and dancers and grooving all night long.  It’s about having fun with those era-that-taste-forgot style clichés, Afros, flares, hot pants, medallions and platform heels.  It’s about solid-gold soul stereotypes like deep-throated sex-gods, temperamental divas and sassy backing singers.  It’s about putting across a string of non-stop classics (twenty no less) including Car Wash, Express Yourself, I Feel Good, Natural Woman and Shaft.  And it goes down a storm in Bolton.

This is a superb production from the moment you enter the auditorium and check out Libby Watson’s atmospheric set and tongue-in-cheek costumes.  The look works wonderfully with Paul J Medford’s vibrant choreography, authentic down to the merest quiver of the dancers’ fingers.

Donovan Blackwood is hilarious as the past-his-sell-by-date hero Henry, convinced he can still cut it as a loved-up lothario even though his waist measurement is nearly the same as his age (50).  AJ Lewis plays his side-kick Courtenay with a cheeky smile and cheesy chat-up line that could seduce every woman in the audience.  Ann-marie Roberts doubles up as Claudette and Gloria, two highly-strung sopranos who implausibly fall for Henry’s charms before falling out with him altogether, not to mention each other.  And Shelley Williams and Danielle Henry are the interchangeable backing singers Jenai and Leshai who communicate solely in song titles.  With just about no dialogue (the songs keep coming relentlessly) these fantastic actors manage to inject personality into their cardboard characters, convey the paper-thin plot as if it actually matters, and sing and dance brilliantly, and look as if they’re having a wonderful time.

Respect to the band who play almost continuously for two hours under Joseph Roberts’ direction: Cheryl Alleyne (drums), Darren Benjamin and Jonathan Idiagbonya (keyboards) and Barry Williams (electric guitar). 

I have no idea why black American music of the 60s and 70s casts such a spell over this cold, wet, post-industrial region - but by the end of Up Against the Wall the glow of joy emanating from the audience could melt the thickest of snowdrifts.

Up Against the Wall is on at Bolton Octagon until Saturday 28 February 2009

Tickets: from £9.00

Evenings: Mon-Sat at 7.30pm

Matinees: Sat 14 and 21 Feb, Wed 25 Feb at 2pm

Box Office: 01204 520661

www.octagonbolton.co.uk