Theatre and book reviews by Janice Dempsey
The story opens in the London flat of Ginny, a modern girl who is unashamedly enjoying her affair with young Greg (in 1967 rather a risqué scene). Greg is energetic, funny, full of banter and clearly an innocent compared to Ginny. It’s soon obvious that Ginny has a secret.
The scene moves to a manicured garden somewhere in the home counties where Philip and Sheila, an older couple, are struggling to communicate with each other. Their conversations about the quality of the breakfast marmalade and the weather are heavy with hidden meanings. The two story-lines soon collide. Robert Powell’s Philip is a likeable but selfish husband, bored yet dependent on his wife. (I loved his jealous suspicions converted to an impassioned accusation that she’s “lost his garden hoe”!). Lisa Goddard as Sheila is absolutely charming, led open-mouthed into a fog of incomprehension. Her desperate ‘vamp-till-ready’ small-talk is a tribute to Alan Ayckbourn’s acute observation of verbal rituals and to her own impeccable sense of comic timing and stage-craft.. Lindsey Campbell’s dolly-bird Ginny is cute, smart and quick thinking, which makes the plot thicken when she’s cornered. Ginny and Greg have their own verbal rituals: banter turns to rows turns to erotic reconciliation, for these two love each other. Gauche Greg is no match for her cunning, of course. Antony Eden plays him for his youth and humour, optimism and child-like trust - the perfect foil for the machinations that go on around him. He's the only character without guile or secrets! “Relatively Speaking” builds a comic situation on the gaps emerging in the sixties between the older generation and their children. It’s an ever more complex, fragile edifice of half-truths, lies and misunderstandings, a tangled web of deception spun by and among the characters: a continuous, hilarious riot of laughter. I felt for Robert Powell’s character Philip when he appealed to Sheila, ”Answer the question you’ve been asked and not the one you’ve made up in your head!” The intricately constructed plot is like a machine in which every cog depends upon every other to drop into place in sequence. And at the end, there’s a cog left over and we laugh all the more! I never miss an Ayckbourn play if I can help it and this evening I realised why: Alan Ayckbourne is a comic genius and his plays are timeless. I recommend the excellent programme's article by Al Senter (© John Good) for more background to the play. A shorter version of this review with photos and links will be published by Essential Surrey online magazine. .
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I loved the demon dentist, played by X-factor star Rhydian with enormous gusto. His gratuitous sadism, amply punished, is the stuff of comic books and cartoons, his stage presence simultaneously chilling, powerful and ridiculous. Stephanie Clift as Audrey is Marilyn Monroe with a Bronx accent, low self-esteem and a beautiful singing voice. Her comic timing is impeccable, as is Sam Lupton’s as Seymour. His paso doble with Paul Kissaun as the stereotyped stage Jew Mushkin is a comedic delight.
On stage almost continuously are Sasha Latola, Vanessa Fisher and Cassi Claire as Crystal, Chiffon and Ronnette. They form a “Greek chorus” from the start and their doo-wop singing and fantastically inventive dancing are indispensible to the action. I also enjoyed Phil Adele’s and Stephanie McConville’s contributions to the Skid Row street dance ensembles (as flasher and pregnant mum!) The monster star of the show, Audrey II, manipulated by puppeteer Josh Wilmott with Neil Nicholas providing its fruity, obscenely sensual blues-singing voice, was threatening enough to frighten one member of the audience into demanding to leave, momentarily. But for the rest of the highly appreciative audience this was a comic fantasy world that we were glad we’d entered for an hour or two. I left the New Victoria Theatre exhilarated and transformed by a truly entertaining experience. Not that I was humming the tunes from the show: there are none that are in themselves the stuff of ear-worms. The magic was in the sheer joy, humour and verve of this production. A must-see! © Janice Windle This review is also published today on the theatre page of Essential Surrey online magazine
The play has a melancholic undertone, perhaps echoing the mood of England immediately pre-war, as well as Coward’s own approaching middle age. This new production gives the original play new depths, particularly in the first half. Garry’s bravura mask is not in fully in place as we meet the close-knit team that work in mutual dependency with the glamorous star, and we understand the temptations and pressures from which they protect him. There’s great humour in the “performance” Garry launches into, to try to disentangle himself from the young “sweet and twenty” fan who has inveigled her way into the house to stay the night. We hear the refrain that will recur throughout the play: Garry is always acting. But is he? And if not, who is able to tell when he is not? The second half introduces a more frenetic comedic mode. The vamp who aims to break up the relationships among his secretary, wife and old friends, to possess Gary herself, is routed, after much farcical slamming of doors and many witty one-liners by all concerned. The dénouement is superbly handled as, from the excellent set’s pulpit-like staircase, Garry denounces the behaviour of those who have criticised him. I particularly enjoyed Toby Longworth’s blustering Henry and Jason Morell’s histrionic Morris. Zoe Boyle creates a glamorous, sulky Joanna and Patrick Walshe McBride settles into his role as the rather scary, obsessive young “progressive” fan. Phyllis Logan and Rebecca Johnson deliver Coward’s sardonic lines with understated panache. Daisy Boulton is sweet, innocent and as predatory as all the intruders into the star’s studio. Coward, himself from a working-class background, wrote the star’s servants as characters, not mere adjuncts. Fred, reversing 1930’s conventions by going out on the town in elegant evening dress, is played with gusto by Martin Hancock. Sally Tatum as the maid is moody, loyal and eccentric. I thoroughly relished Samuel West’s performance as Coward’s doppleganger, seen, as Sheridan Morley has commented, “through a series of distorting mirrors”. An excellent evening’s entertainment. Present Laughter by Noel Coward, directed by Stephen Unwin, is at Richmond Theatre, Surrey until 6th August 2016.
This review or an edited version of it will be published on August 2nd on the Essential Surrey Magazine's Theatre page. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Adapted and directed by Tom Littler - The Law College Gardens, Guildford One of the great pleasures of summer in Surrey is Guildford Shakespeare Company’s series of productions in the open air. This week we’re enjoying “Much Ado About Nothing”, staged in the Law College Gardens, in perfect weather. Yesterday evening the great conifers rising behind the actors were bathed in golden light until the interval. Tom Littler has set the play in 1940’s England, with jazz, dancing and tennis on the lawn, land girls digging for victory, whirlwind wartime romances and dashing airman returning home to a hero's welcome. The Guildford Shakespeare Company has again produced a masterful, original interpretation of a Shakespeare play. Every actor’s performance is remarkable for its authenticity and clarity of interpretation and delivery. Sarah Golbran is a feisty, no-nonsense Beatrice to Matt Pinches’ graceful facetiousness and perfect comic timing , which turns to sincerity and loyalty as the plot develops. As Leonata (the female incarnation of Shakespeare's original Count Leonato), Fiz Marcus’ despairing anger over Hero’s supposed infidelity is full of tragic passion and Richard Pepper as Claudio also gives his renunciation of Hero a moving edge, allowing even a modern audience to sympathise, just a little, with his cruelty. Simon Nock plays Squadron Leader Don Pedro with urbane panache. Tim Hudson flawlessly plays both Sergeant Borachio, drunken associate of Don John, and Friar Francis, the kindly priest who saves Hero. Hayley Doherty completes the ensemble as pretty, flirty maidservant Margaret. Morgan Philpott doubles with remarkable skill as the sour-faced villain Don John and Dogberry, the “ass” whose team saves the day. We were laughing almost too much for the second half to begin, as the Watch, who bear a strong resemblance to Arthur Lowe and his Home Guard platoon, marshalled latecomers back from their interval drinks. It's definitely worth booking this week, with the certainty of a beautiful evening and great entertainment. A longer version of this review is also published on http://www.essentialsurrey.co.uk/, in the Theatre and Arts section.
On the night of a WW2 victory celebration party at her father’s country house, Miss Julie, the neurotic, unhappy daughter of a rich man, gets drunk and finds it entertaining and stimulating to flirt and challenge John, her father’s young chauffeur, to betray his fiancée, Christine, who is the family’s cook. Her selfish need to exert sexual power over him (as well as over other men) both attracts and repels him. Next morning, she is dismayed and confused by their breach of the servant-master relationship that still defines them in her mind.
Miss Julie is, from the outset, an insufferable character. As the drama develops we’re invited to feel sorry for her, or to admire her for the way she seems ready to step out of her place in the class and gender hierarchies. But her behaviour is also very dangerous to the lives of the powerless servants whom she bullies. Helen George as Julie and Richard Flood as John bring powerful chemistry to the stage from the outset, with her teasing, challenging seduction, his wariness and intense responses. Their sparring, by turns passionately entwined and aggressively contemptuous, is magnificent. Amy Cudden is strong as Christine, trying to keep her man and protect her plans for their future, suffering but staying in control of herself through all the damage that the situation inflicts upon them. This is a gripping production, with superlative performances by all three protagonists and an excellent stage set. The powers and weaknesses of both genders, and the suppression of personal freedom by class divisions and the need for society’s respect, are dramatised passionately in this play about cultural mores that could also be called a love story. Janice Windle 31/05/16 (This review is also published by www.essentialsurrey.co.uk/theatre, Essential Surrey online magazine on 1/6/2016) Zindabad by David Conville
The Mill, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford 28th April – 7th May The Mill Studio’s world premier staging of “Zindabad” presents an unexpectedly large dramatic experience in this small theatrical space. The title is the Urdu word for victory or patriotism and refers to Pakistan after partition by the British in 1947 and it's a tale of people in the grip of high passions, both political and personal. In the frightening social upheaval following the division of India into separate Muslim and Hindu states, law and order are overturned by angry murderous mobs of both factions. Against this violent background, a private story of illicit love, infidelity and divided loyalty is played out almost at our feet while history rages on screens above and beyond the comfortable living rooms inhabited by expatriate British landowners Nick and Sally Lawrence, Betty Swami the absent local commissioner’s wife, and the archaeologists Harry Lesseps and Mortimer Wheeler (the real-life TV archaeologist in the 1950’s). The interwoven situations are fraught with danger for all the characters. For Harry Lesseps and his married lover Sally Lawrence, the danger at first seems mostly psychological, but more physically dangerous to them is the mob violence that hems them in. Tension mounts exponentially throughout the play as all the main protagonists gradually realise that they can no longer hope to control the people whom up to now they've employed and patronised under the British Empire. The casting is perfect: Justin Butcher as the passionate Franco-Hindu Harry Lesseps is a brilliant foil for Andrew Wincott’s Nick, tight-lipped and arrogant as the wronged husband; Rebecca Johnson is the archetypal neglected wife who has been swept off her feet despite her moral scruples. Linda Thorson plays Betty Swami, the resilient long-term expat Englishwoman married to a Hindu, with delightful humour; Frank Barrie portrays Wheeler with equal charisma as a middle-aged charmer with a seductive eye for the ladies. The supporting roles of faithful servants (Antony Zaki and Ali), and vengeful rebellious ex-employee (Ranjit Krishnamma) complete the strong ensemble. To achieve on the intimate stage of the Mill the effect of a cinematic historical blockbuster while treating the audience to engaging interplay among strongly drawn individual characters is a real feat by director Richard Digby Day and designer Tim Reed. David Conville, who wrote and produced “Zindabad”, inspired by his own Anglo-Indian upbringing, has created an absorbing drama that works on several levels. Not to be missed. 4 stars Janice Windle 29/04/2016 "Jerusalem" by Jez Butterworth directed by Marie Gardner for the Pranksters Theatre Company There’s a bucolic, rumbustious romp in modern Merrie England at the Electric Theatre in Guildford this week, leading up to St George’s Day and Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary. But it’s not all cakes and ale in “Jerusalem”, nor in this neck of the Wiltshire woods, despite Morris dancing (the Guildford Morris Blitz and Pilgrim Morris Men performing in the foyer in the interval), a (missing) village Queen of the May and a stream of dialogue that’s never less than entertaining, comic and at times surreal. Be prepared for some strong language throughout and a roller-coaster of dramatic action in the second act.
Mark Ashdown plays “Rooster” John Byron, a shamanic drug dealer living in a camp in the forest, whose charisma, raves and ready hand-outs of drugs and alcohol attract a motley band of young people and the hatred and suspicion of residents of the new houses in the village, who want their corner of England “cleaned up”. It’s a demanding role and Ashdown fills it with huge gusto and sensitivity to the nuances of the character. Despite his rascally ways, we begin to sympathise with Rooster before the end of the play. The young hangers-on, played with wonderful energy and great comic timing by Alex Mircica, Paul Weems, Neil Brown, Amy Yorston and Amy de Roche, are like Shakespearean mechanicals in their naivety. Lee is about to go off to Australia with little or no money in his pocket; Davey’s chauvinism is so complete that he feels ill if he finds he’s wandered out of Wiltshire into another county and he “can’t see the point of other countries”; Ginger’s ambition to be “called” a DJ is the butt of endless banter and cruel practical jokes. The girls who generously offer Lee “one for the road” are nevertheless freshly and innocently living for the moment, which seems to be all they own. Phil Snell as the eccentric Professor speaks up in poetry for the English belief in individualism and independence. Ian Creese as Wesley the disillusioned village pub landlord speaks up drunkenly for the Englishman hounded by his corporate employers on the one hand and his wife on the other. The Pranksters have created a highly comic, poetic, dramatic commentary on the state of England’s “green and pleasant land” in Marie Gardner’s excellent production of “Jerusalem”. The play runs until Shakespeare's anniversary/St George's Day - 23rd April 2016. You can buy tickets here: http://pranksterstheatre.org.uk This review is also published online at Essential Surrey (www.essential surrey.co.uk/theatre) I'm loving being offered the chance to review theatre in my part of Surrey, through the online news magazine Essential Surrey. This week it was a production by the local drama group Guilburys of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot", at the Electric Theatre An ambitious choice, and the first time a production of the play has been seen in Guildford for fifteen years, I'm told.
This was my review, now up on Essential Surrey's "What's on" page. Don’t wait! Go to see the Electric Theatre’s brilliant production of this classic Beckett play. Angst? Absurdist? Existentialist? You can put labels on it, but the fact is that Beckett stares into the abyss that’s human existence – and laughs! And we laugh with him. So here’s the plot: two tramps, Estragon (“Gogo”) and Vladimir (“Didi”), are hanging about in a barren landscape with one dead-looking tree and a blank sky, discussing why they’re there, whether they should move on, and (much of the time) bickering as old friends or married couples do. They would like to leave, but they’ve promised they’ll wait for Godot. But the only other people who pass by are a strange pair of men, Pozzo and his slave Lucky. And, as one critic of the play famously said “nothing happens, twice”. But actually, quite a lot happens. The banter between Didi (Dave Ufton) and Gogo (Tim Brown) is brilliantly handled by both. Tim Brown is a charming Gogo with a goldfish memory, who lives only in the moment. His sulky obedience to his more prosaic friend’s insistence that they go on waiting, and his obsession with his boots, give him the air of a child on a long journey asking “Are we there yet?” Phill Griffin as Pozzo delivers a masterly performance, part aristocrat, part military leader, part circus ringmaster, arrogant, power-obsessed, narcissistic, brutal, frightening and funny all at once. His manic presence makes the tramps’ behaviour and conversation look sane and humane by contrast. Tom Kent as Lucky, Pozzo’s inappropriately named slave, in sad clown dress, unusually performs the important “thinking” speech with bravura and eloquence, which only turns to madness as he is tackled and silenced by Gogo and Didi. The power relationships among the characters are handled by Oli Bruce the director with tremendous humour and much slapstick. This and the banter between the tramps reminds us of the best of Laurel and Hardy, while Pozzo’s aristocratic drawl is reminiscent of Terry Thomas of “Carry On” fame. It really works. In this classic absurdist play, time, space and human relationships are fluid and ambiguous. As Vladimir says, who knows whether anything we remember really happened, or if we are all dreams ourselves? Becket offers no answers. All we can do is amuse ourselves while we wait for Godot. Tickets here 4 stars Janice Windle 6/4/16
I went to this play prepared to be moved. In common with most people, I have seen members of my family struck down by dementia, like André the old man of Zeller’s title, and I know how devastating the illness is for the family and friends of the sufferer. But I wasn’t expecting to be given permission to laugh, nor to be taken by surprise at every moment. Florian Zeller has created a unique theatrical experience that conveys from the inside what progressive dementia feels like. In Pinteresque dialogue, in fragmentary scenes of disorientating repetition, on a stage whose sparse props mirror the gradual stripping of a sufferer’s identity, he takes us into André’s confused and confusing world. We become like André, kept guessing right up to the final crisis. Where are we? Who are the people we’re seeing, really? What are their relationships to one another and to him? When did this happen? Was it before or after the last episode? Propositions are set up in answer to these questions, in flashes of illuminated conversation, only to be discredited in the next moment. Dementia destroys large areas of the sufferer’s identity by wiping memories and breaking synaptic connections that enable them to make logical patterns of what their senses perceive. We suffer with his daughter, Anne, as she makes decisions to try to care for her father without destroying her own life, but we actually live inside André’s suffering. Between brief scenes of apparent lucidity the stage is hidden in darkness framed by a disconcertingly dazzling border of lights. In these gaps, sounds play discordantly like a badly tuned radio or a scratched record before breaking off with an electronic crackle as the lights go up on another scenario. Time and space are provisional and fluid. It’s as though we’re hearing the synaptic pathways rupturing in André’s brain. And yet we laugh with André, as he alternately flirts with the women who try to help him, as he tries on different personas (“I worked in a circus for a bit”) and sardonically rejects their patronising persuasiveness. He’s charming, as well as frustrating, paranoid, frustrated, suspicious and often tactlessly cruel to his family – or are they his family? And why are some of them so inhumane towards this helpless old man? Art changes our perceptions and understanding. “The Father” is innovative, immersive art of a high order. Don’t miss it. (First published online at essential surrey.co.uk)
The last straw comes when Henry doesn’t want to provide the settlements that will enable them to become wives and mothers. (And the property of a man whom they have a greater chance of manipulating!) When the play opens, Henry’s faced with insurrection from all three of his daughters. In particular, Maggie, the eldest, is intelligent, strongly independent and self-willed. She proves more than a match for her father’s inadequacies and assumptions of automatic male supremacy. Her no-nonsense retorts and her firm refusal to be manipulated by her father are delightfully familiar in our more gender-equal post-Victorian era!
By a combination of perceptive talent-spotting, cunning, good management and ambitious planning Maggie secures futures for herself, her sisters and the man she decides to marry, as well as for her father – and all by leaving Henry Hobson no choice but to support her plans for all of them. Maggie is a wonderfully strong character and Naomi Frederick plays her for all she’s worth, as the power behind her chosen man, Willie Mossop. (Bryan Dick.) Willy, humble and socially weak as a bootmaker (but a talented bootmaker) is a brilliant foil for Martin Shaw as Henry Hobson, the archetypal Victorian pater familias. We almost feel sorry for Hobson, though our tears are of laughter as he tries to bluster his defiance against Maggie’s iron will. This is a feel-good production of a timeless comedy of manners and historic social satire, played for all the laughs it richly deserves. Great play, excellent casting and production, delightful theatre. I'm so glad I had the chance to see it and review it for Essential Surrey's online news magazine. 5 stars Janice Windle 29/03/16 |
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