alinewaites

THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES ****
by Roger Bean
musical arrangements by Brian William Baker
Upstairs at the Gatehouse.
Act one of this show, set in front of a giant silver moon, takes place is in 1958  and shows just how silly and irritating girls used to be.
Enter Four very pretty girls in similar fifty style dresses with huge skirts bulked out by net petticoats and distinguished only by the colours. Cindy Lou in pink, Missy in yellow, Betty Jean in green and Suzy in blue.
Most of the songs in Act one are new to me and frankly all sound alike – all about boyfriends and presented by teenage girls called upon to do the cabaret for the Prom night. The girls giggle, scream and squabble through the numbers, but the singing and harmonies are never less than perfect.  Nevertheless, one of my reactions during this act was ‘Thank God for the Beatles’ 
”Sandman” is the opening number with some interesting harmonies, amusing attitudes and bong bongs but it leads into “Lollipop” and “Sugartime” and I long for John Paul George and Ringo. A couple of Dream Songs follow and suddenly there is “Stupid Cupid” and the show lightens up. A moment of joy following by “Lucky Lips” (Leiber and Stoller on a bad day.) Then comes the wonderful “Secret Love” sung by yellow-clad Sophie Camble as Missy in her incredibly lush soprano. For me, this set the standard for the rest of the show. No more longing for  John Paul George and Ringo. These girls are IT.
Act two takes place ten years later and the girls have entered the real world, taking scraps of their teenage years with them – Again similar gear in their favourite colours white boots, and short skirts.  The drama and comedy of their lives turn this jukebox musical into a real musical theatre. The sweet pink sexpot Cindy Lou played by Rosie Needham sings “The Son of a Preacher man”  Louise Young who was the naughty Betty Jean is having a birthday and does “It’s my  Party” giving a powerful dramatic performance and Kara Taylor Alberts as Suzy has problems which cannot be revealed here.
Missy and the girls sing  the very ballsy “You don’t own me” which is the first inkling of a new attitude from the idiot girls in Act one.’
There have already been two Offie nominations for the show. Congratulations to Iona Holland choreographer who delineates neatly the change by the ‘ultra-feminine’ moves of the fifties and the raunchy choreography of the sixties.  Lauren Ronan is musical director, Emily Bestow is set and costume designer and Sarah McColgan, lighting designer. They have a wonderful band backing them up. Led by Lauren Ronan and Fred Feeney on keyboards, Drums Janette Williams, and Reeds Emma Mackinder.
Practically the whole of the creative team involved in this show is women. Where are the blokes?  Well, inevitably they are the subjects of the songs. Yes, the guys still have all the attention even in their absence
It is a  satisfying production and well directed by Joseph Hodges – a young man with a passion for music of the past and the ideal person for this job.

THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES ****
by Roger Bean
musical arrangements by Brian William Baker
Upstairs at the Gatehouse.
Act one of this show, set in front of a giant silver moon, takes place is in 1958  and shows just how silly and irritating girls used to be.
Enter Four very pretty girls in similar fifty style dresses with huge skirts bulked out by net petticoats and distinguished only by the colours. Cindy Lou in pink, Missy in yellow, Betty Jean in green and Suzy in blue.
Most of the songs in Act one are new to me and frankly all sound alike – all about boyfriends and presented by teenage girls called upon to do the cabaret for the Prom night. The girls giggle, scream and squabble through the numbers, but the singing and harmonies are never less than perfect.  Nevertheless, one of my reactions during this act was ‘Thank God for the Beatles’ 
”Sandman” is the opening number with some interesting harmonies, amusing attitudes and bong bongs but it leads into “Lollipop” and “Sugartime” and I long for John Paul George and Ringo. A couple of Dream Songs follow and suddenly there is “Stupid Cupid” and the show lightens up. A moment of joy following by “Lucky Lips” (Leiber and Stoller on a bad day.) Then comes the wonderful “Secret Love” sung by yellow-clad Sophie Camble as Missy in her incredibly lush soprano. For me, this set the standard for the rest of the show. No more longing for  John Paul George and Ringo. These girls are IT.
Act two takes place ten years later and the girls have entered the real world, taking scraps of their teenage years with them – Again similar gear in their favourite colours white boots, and short skirts.  The drama and comedy of their lives turn this jukebox musical into a real musical theatre. The sweet pink sexpot Cindy Lou played by Rosie Needham sings “The Son of a Preacher man”  Louise Young who was the naughty Betty Jean is having a birthday and does “It’s my  Party” giving a powerful dramatic performance and Kara Taylor Alberts as Suzy has problems which cannot be revealed here.
Missy and the girls sing  the very ballsy “You don’t own me” which is the first inkling of a new attitude from the idiot girls in Act one.’
There have already been two Offie nominations for the show. Congratulations to Iona Holland choreographer who delineates neatly the change by the ‘ultra-feminine’ moves of the fifties and the raunchy choreography of the sixties.  Lauren Ronan is musical director, Emily Bestow is set and costume designer and Sarah McColgan, lighting designer. They have a wonderful band backing them up. Led by Lauren Ronan and Fred Feeney on keyboards, Drums Janette Williams, Guitar Izzy Joan and Reeds Emma Mackinder.
Practically the whole of the creative team involved in this show is women. Where are the blokes?  Well, inevitably they are the subjects of the songs. Yes, the guys still have all the attention even in their absence
It is a  satisfying production and well directed by Joseph Hodges – a young man with a passion for music of the past and the ideal person for this job.

OTHELLO
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
A NEW INTERPRETATION BY PHIL WILMOTT
AT THE UNION tHEATRE

Wilmott’s essential classic season ‘Enemies of the People’ concludes with an exploration of the minds of characters in Othello. In order to do this he has transported the action to The British Raj, so the honest and intelligent Indian, Othello is now a general in the British Army fighting for the British in his own occupied country.
It is somewhat alarming at first to have an overture consisting of an upright piano in charge of a man in a white suit, playing Rule Britannia, Land of Hope and Glory and ‘God Save the Queen’
But when the lights come up we are in the presence of a sumptuous and cunning Indian setting by Justin Williams and Johnny Ruse with glorious arches and and a split level acting area.
So we see the ‘Foreigner’ Othello who is in charge of the British occupiers, played in turbaned majesty by Matthew Wade. He is a gentle soul but has a commanding voice and is every inch a hero during the first act. His love for Desdemona comes over so powerfully that nothing could ever demean or destroy it. Desdemona played by Carlotta De Gregori is obviously a strong character and we suspect that it is she who initiated the relationship as she listened to the exotic Othello’s adventures. She marries him without feeling the need to inform her father who is at first horrified at his daughter marrying a non British man. The fact that she has deceived her father in this way gives Iago a perfect example of her as a deceitful person when he is initiating jealousy about her friendship with Cassio.
Rikki Lawton as Iago in this piece has the charm and ebullience of a young Ant (or Dec). His jolly demeanour makes him popular with everyone and he is treated throughout with implicit trust.. However we are never left in doubt as to his ambition and his hatred of Othello. Shakespeare makes use of his relationship with the audience to explain and share with us his villainy.
Lawton gives an excellent performance. His seduction of Michael Cassio when he discovers that he (played for some reason as a vicar in this production) has an alcohol problem is totally believable. As is his gradual breakdown of Othello’s love for Desdemona with the use of the famous Strawberry handkerchief. His wife Emilia is sympathetically played by Claire Lloyd and we understand the reasons for her not exposing his villainy earlier on.
This is an exciting production full of uninhibited drama and many exceptional riveting performances.
Othello is a strange play which a particular racial relativance to the present day. The fear and resentment of Iago to a successful person of ‘the wrong colour’.

CARL’S STORY

BY GAVIN MILLER

at the Tabard Theatre

Annie and Beth are very close friends. They meet at the coffee shop where all the arty types go. A place where ‘a cup of coffee costs about six quid’ quote from Darcy, Annie’s very pretty teenage daughter played by Lucia Dean, currently an acting student who, I believe , should have a good future in the theatre. She has a liveliness with brightens up the rather ordinary content of the play..

It is not surprising that Darcy disapproves of the coffee shop.. It is a very strange coffee shop that has a colourful backdrop and a standard lamp, but apart from that looks like a bus shelter.  Just three chairs in a row and a low wooden table with a glass of water on it.

Very un cosy which does not help the play at all which mostly consists of people talking to the audience telling their stories in a casual manner. They are good working actors but there is nothing dramatic or entertaining about their performances.

Ok, then Beth played by Emma Bernbach, a divorcee and currently a single person, is  at a loss to understand is why her best friend Annie (Jenny Whiffen) seems keen for her to have an affair with Carl, Annie’s  husband  – even let him take her away for the weekend.

Carl is described at length by the cast.  The characters each take the stage and address the audience with their stories about Carl.

Annie, Carl’s wife is a journalist and is aware that the truth is always different in many ways, depending on how  it is told. None of the others have even considered this as a possibility.

She turns down jobs that require her using private telephone conversations overheard by the paps.

She also tends to say really strange things:-

‘If Carl and I didn’t love each other there wouldn’t be a problem’  she says and ‘Carl only talks about things he doesn’t talk about’

Tommy Carter plays John, the ex husband of Beth and he gives us a little more information about Carl.  He also has a scene with Darcy which brightens things up a bit.

What more can I say? I was at a loss to understand most of it and the resolution was surely pretty clear from the start.  Obviously Carl – apparently a great musician, never appears.

I don’t know where Gavin Miller got this story. All I can suggest is that he put it back.

CARL’S STORY

BY GAVIN MILLER

at the Tabard Theatre

Annie and Beth are very close friends. They meet at the coffee shop where all the arty types go. A place where ‘a cup of coffee costs about six quid’ quote from Darcy, Annie’s very pretty teenage daughter played by Lucia Dean, currently an acting student who, I believe , should have a good future in the theatre. She has a liveliness with brightens up the rather ordinary content of the play..

It is not surprising that Darcy disapproves of the coffee shop.. It is a very strange coffee shop that has a colourful backdrop and a standard lamp, but apart from that looks like a bus shelter.  Just three chairs in a row and a low wooden table with a glass of water on it.

Very un cosy which does not help the play at all which mostly consists of people talking to the audience telling their stories in a casual manner. They are good working actors but there is nothing dramatic or entertaining about their performances.

Ok, then Beth played by Emma Bernbach, a divorcee and currently a single person, is  at a loss to understand is why her best friend Annie (Jenny Whiffen) seems keen for her to have an affair with Carl, Annie’s  husband  – even let him take her away for the weekend.

Carl is described at length by the cast.  The characters each take the stage and address the audience with their stories about Carl.

Annie, Carl’s wife is a journalist and is aware that the truth is always different in many ways, depending on how  it is told. None of the others have even considered this as a possibility.

She turns down jobs that require her using private telephone conversations overheard by the paps.

She also tends to say really strange things:-

‘If Carl and I didn’t love each other there wouldn’t be a problem’  she says and ‘Carl only talks about things he doesn’t talk about’

Tommy Carter plays John, the ex husband of Beth and he gives us a little more information about Carl.  He also has a scene with Darcy which brightens things up a bit.

What more can I say? I was at a loss to understand most of it and the resolution was surely pretty clear from the start.  Obviously Carl – apparently a great musician, never appears.

I don’t know where Gavin Miller got this story. All I can suggest is that he put it back.

MUSIC BY GEORGE GERSHWIN, LYRICS BY IRA GERSHWIN, BOOK BY  AND GEORGE S. KAUFMAN

UPSTAIRS AT THE GATEHOUSE.

Here is a 1927 musical by the great musical writers of the period – which has been directed by Mark Giesser with no changes to music lyrics or dialogue as it is the copyright of the Gershwin family.

Amazing done in 1927 style with girls all singing soprano, But it is a show with serious intent about the uselessness and waste of war.  Rich men who declare war in order to made more money.  The rich man in question is Horace J Fletcher played by Richard Emerson who owns an American cheese factory, he is a self made man who wants even more.

He is pursued by Mrs Draper, a woman who wants to enter into some sort of contract with him. (Pippa Winslow). Her daughter is a sweet soprano of seventeen in love with Timothy Harper who works at the Factory.

Paul Biggin plays Jim Townsend,  a pacifist hero and journalist, who longs for the countryside but is conscripted into the rich man’s army – because he doesn’t like war, or cheese and criticises the milk content of the rich man’s cheese factory.

His love is Joan Fletcher, daughter of Cheesemaker played by Beth Burrows.

Never felt the story really worked but there is lots of acerbic wit, crazy characters, and super numbers including  ‘The man/girl I love’  sung very prettily by Joan and Jim.  ‘I’ve got a Cush on You’ by Anne and Timothy and  ‘Strike Up the Band’ a rousing number sung by the company all looking forward to the fun of the war. Most of the other songs unknown to me. except for  the satire on the song ‘Oh What a Lovely War’  ‘Oh this is such a lovely War’

Absolutely fascinating.  Too many characters I felt, but it had to be so to follow the 1927 regime. . Good singing – and Terrific Band who have a long overture to themselves at the beginning. Two Reeds, Trumpet, Cello, Keys, Bass and Drums. Wow!

Musical director is Bobby Goulder, Very simple but effective choreography by Orley Quick.

A good evening’s entertainment.

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the Crown Dual
by Daniel Clarkson

A rip roaring silly comedy starring only two actors who play all the parts by changing hats, scarves, jackets etc.
Subtitled Happy and Glorious, the two people journey through milestones in the reign of our sovereign Elizabeth the second and her consort The Duke of Edinburgh.
The two players take on roles as actors who are to play the dozens of characters within the life of Her Majestry. Beth Buckingham, played by Rosie Holt takes on the arduous part of The Queen, her drunken sister, her mother and various others who come into her life. Stanley Diamond, played by Brendan Murphy is most of the others, including her irascible husband The Duke of Edinborough Winston Churchill and Antony Eden, two of her prime ministers, Captain Peter Townsend and Tony Armstrong Jones, and all the Royal Princes plus characters from Harry POtter.
Elizabeth became Queen after the early demise of her father George 6th. The late king was played by Murphy with an extraordinary emphasis on his stutter – as was recognised in the film of The King’s Speech, and extremely moving, but in this case it was played for laughs. I felt this was a little unkind. But it is satire.
This is an old fashioned quick change comedy show – the kind of entertainment definitely due for revival as one can guage from the constant laughter from the audience.
Well done

Six *****

by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss

at the Arts Theatre

SIX is on my mind again having seen it for the third time. It is a quite extraordinary show. Absolutely unique in presentation and employing the talents of ten female performers on the Arts Theatre stage. ‘The Arts’ – That famous little theatre which made ‘Waiting for Godot’ and Samuel Becket household names. A mysterious production that was made theatrical history by the critics of the day. A new kind of theatre.
In Six we do have a similar situation. But in this case, it is an instant popular choice, mingling the excitement of a pop concert with the kind of historical detail of a story that fascinates everyone from childhood.

Needless to say the performances are superlative. The actual six each sing their individual numbers like pop stars in their own right. There are few artists in the business who work with the assurance and expertise of Natalie Paris as Jane Seymour who sings ‘Heart of Stone, one of the more dramatic numbers in the piece featuring her fabulous voice. She has worked her own way of getting what she wanted from the King, even loved him in her way. But she died!
‘I’m Queen of the Castle, Get Down you Dirty Rascal’ by Alexia Mackintosh as Anne of Cleves is a phrase unforgettable and the wicked humour of this particular queen is irresistible. Having been turned down by the King, she is the real winner of the group.

The extremely powerful Jarnea Richard-Noel is a true leader of the Queens. Divorced but still around despite the dissolution of the monasteries and the King’s infatuation with Millie O’Connell the sweet, but bitchy Boleyn who tells everyone not to lose their heads! Of course, she is beheaded just like the very sexy Aimie Atkinson as Katherine Howard has been bought up to give men what they want.

Finally Maiya Quanssah-Breed is the last Katherine, the one who has got her head screwed on and sacrifices her own desires to be left with the remains of the disease ridden King and outlives him. ‘I don’t need your love’ she sings along with the other Queens who haven’t been so fortunate.

The Ladies in Waiting – or as most of us would call them, the orchestra – are all suitably dressed in sequin embroidered trouser suits and they play Toby Marlowe’s varied music styles under the musical director Katy Richardson.
The set is stunning and so are the costumes diamante studded, all individual little skirts or shorts with fishnet tights and very different tops and hairstyles.

The choreography is up to date and energetic – again often showing the individuality of the characters. Carrie-Anne Ingrouille has six terrific dancers to show off her work.

All the girls are sensational solo artists in their own special way and in their ensemble numbers are six times as effective as any pop iodol.
Exciting exhilarating extraordinary. These dancing, singing, humorous ,pretty ,witty queens are winners playing the famous losers of British history. They are nominated for five Oliviers. They deserve to win them all.
They are a theatrical phenomenon.

I

My Brother’s Keeper

by Nigel Williams

at the Playground Theatre

This powerful and compelling drama was originally produced at the Greenwich Theatre in the nineteen eighties. It seems as relevant today as it was then. There will always be warring families from biblical times when Cain said ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ This story is set in a bleak almost bare room in a NHS hospital. Just two beds and a stack of blue chairs. In one bed is a still form of Mr Pittorini who has had stroke and is near death. Mr Stone is in the other bed.

It is about irreconcilable differences between two brothers even at the bedside of their dying father, as they each compete for his attention. Mr Stone, the man also suffering from a stroke, is an actor. His sons are at different ends of the personality scale. Tony is ceative, like his actor father, he is a writer and is married to Ella, a girl disapproved of by not only his brother but also his mother who will not accept her nor her grandchildren from the marriage.

Tony (Josh Taylor) wants his father to get well so he can go on working – ‘disabled actors are all the rage’ Tony is a colourful character in Gap style clothing. He says He never knew whether his father was Mr Stone being King Lear or King Lear being Mr Stone.

Samuel, the other son played by David Partridge, is the antithesis of his brother, he is a business man who wears his suit and tie as if he was born in them. Of course he dislikes and despises the life of his brother – they have never been friends. Sam’s wife has just left him, so he has other problems on his mind. He has brought in a book on Psychotherapy which contains his version of a cure.

William Reay plays the male nurse Terry who acts the fool. His idea of a cure is making his patients laugh, even though they seem to pay him no attention at all. Especially Mr Pittorini played by Rick James who never moves a muscle during the whole ninety minutes of the play.

Mr Stone (Andy de la Tour) lies there not wanting to eat just drifting in and out of sleep ‘I listened for a little while and then things got blurred’ as his children squabble ceaselessly.

Mrs Stone (Kathryn Pogson) talks about the 47 years they have been together, she is trying to get her husband to remember. All he wants is to just die quietly.

There is so much content in this play that it is riveting as they all fight violently in the name of keeping the father alive. They all want him to live but towards the end we become aware of yet another thing. A plea from Mr Stone just to stop trying to feed him, keep him awake, do exercises, just to let him die peacefully and quietly.

His wife and sons are fighting to live in their own way, he wants the right to die in his own way.

Circa

by Tom Ratcliffe

at the Old Red Lion Theatre

This play gives us incidents in the life of a gay man late teenage until 35. The gay man, referred to as Young Man or Man is played by two actors.

He begins as a seventeen year old school boy who has answered a query from an Older Man. He drives to the man’s apartment and finds him there, all ready, in his dressing gown. The boy was expecting to go out for a meal or at least have something cooked for him. The Older Man is only interested in getting the job done. Sadly he cannot get his equipment to work. After three tries, the boy decides to leave despite the older man’s desperate attempts.

This is probably the most amusing scene in the play. The next one is about his affair with another boy of the same age just as he is about to leave for Art School in London.

I found this production very difficult to follow as there is quite a bit of doubling up and the characters are not given names – just Man, Young Man, Older Man etc. . I found it irritating as if the author was being deliberately infuriating/adventurous/innovative with this kind of gimmick. It was not until I read the actual playscript afterwards that I knew who everybody was. I also realised on reading it that the dialogue was well written. Watching it I was too intent on working out who everybody was.

The incidents are pretty well acted, once you have found out who the characters are meant to be. It is difficult for the actors to retain consistency in their performances – too many things to think about – but they more or less succeed.

The sex scenes are played in a series of blackouts, – very short ones . The lights dim as undressing starts, then quickly go to black and the lights come up again almost immediately as the characters are buttoning up their various garments.

I met a young girl – a member of the audience – afterwards who said ‘I’ve seen it all before’ and added ‘It’s supposed to be a Gay play – they could be anyone’

What more can I say? It has been around for a long time in various venues – I’m talking about the play, though I guess it also works for the sex.’