alinewaites

DISASTER
by Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick

at Charing Cross Theatre

I just wish there were more stars to award a show. This is worth at least seven and a half. It was only on for two performances and though the director gave them all scripts to read from, the actors – mostly West End feature players – insisted on learning the roles and performing them with all props and costumes etc. The stage staff also joined in, doing the lighting, the costumes etc. all for nothing.
This was a charity show in aid of MAD – Make a Difference and it is mostly to raise funds for victims of Aids or HIV so it was a good cause, but it was not only the cause that made the actors and staff so keen to work on the show. It is because it is simply bloody brilliant.
It is a spoof on disaster movies and it is hysterically funny from beginning to end. The cast is amazing. They play it as if they have been properly rehearsed, choreographed and directed for weeks. Certainly they have been rehearsing, but Sunday afternoon was the first time they had actually done it together.
it
Most especially Jennifer Simard who plays the – nearly guitar playing – nun called Sister throughout. Sister is not only obsessed with gambling but so madly in love with a one armed bandits that she embraces them like a lover. She played the role on the Broadway version and made the trip over here just to perform it again.

Simon Lipkin who is practically Mr West End these days plays the ridiculous nasty villain, especially funny when approached by a blind girl, and pretends not to see her. She has been blinded by the Earthquake, only one of the many disasters that befall this helpless cast. They start on a Shipboard Casino and encounter Shipwreck, Volcano, Earthquake, tidal wave, Piranha fish and sharks. It’s a wonder any of them survive – well most of them do. Sally Ann Triplett plays Shirley a woman who is dying of some unknown disease that produces crazy physical symptoms one by one. She eventually expires doing a mad tap dance in order to save the hero and heroine from a tidal wave – but how can a tap dance…? don’t ask!

When I first saw Seth doing his Deconstructing Broadway show I thought maybe we just had the same sense of humour. Judging from the audience response to DISASTER, everyone has the same funny bone.

I – and all the other people who witnessed these shows hope desperately that it will be restaged here at our dear little Charing Cross Theatre which fits it so admirably.

4.0 out of 5 starsA lovely story and a great read, and who can ask for more than that?

By Terry Eastham on 28 May 2016

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

This book has two things that really appealed to me. The first was the style of writing. it was easy to read and the mixture of present day and past life stories worked really well to explain the personality and spirit of Joe Tully. He isn’t your everyday literary hero, but is a normal man. The years may have aged him, his family may have deserted him ,but he is an old trooper and never loses his sense of who he is and what he wants. The second factor is that Joe, and most of the other characters, are all involved in the theatre, which is one of my own loves. The author brings all her experience and love of the theatre into her writing and it really shows through. Her description of the play in the back room of the pub was perfect and is still as true today, where some fantastic work is produced in fringe pub theatre venues, as it was in Joe’s day. I took this book with me on a long coach trip, and the hours flew by as I travelled in Joe’s world. By the last chapter, I really hoped the old guy had a wonderful final years before he went off to the great orchestra pit in the sky.

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4.0 out of 5 starsJust Joe

By W. Russell on 11 Mar. 2016

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

Joe is a musician, a man who plays in the pit at West End shows, composes music, fancies his chances and makes the wrong one, living to regret it. We meet him in his old age dumped in a retirement complex by his daughter and awful son in law after he has accidentally set fire to his flat. Joe may be down, but he is not out. The books takes us back to why he got where he is, and springs some splendid surprises about where he will end up. Aline Wates paints a lovely picture of 1960s London, a vanished world, and Joe is a beguiling if infuriating character who encounters some equally entertaining and not too well behaved people along the way. Great holiday reading – if that is not an insulting thing to say. I almost read it in one go, and that was only because I ran out of time on the first attempt to read it. Could easily be an in one go book.

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4.0 out of 5 starsmusicians `jammed` into the wee small hours in basements in tin pan alley and people loved, laughed and drank their lives away

By Stewart Permutt on 21 July 2016

Format: Kindle Edition

Actress-producer Aline Waites` debut novel is a delightful nostalgic trip into sixties and seventies London, where theatres above pubs were just emerging, musicians `jammed` into the wee small hours in basements in tin pan alley and people loved , laughed and drank their lives away. It also shows quite movingly how time takes its toll on the central characters through a series of vignettes from past to present. An easy but satisfying read.

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4.0 out of 5 starsA very entertaining read.

By Angela Mowforth on 11 Sept. 2016

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

Joe is a musician and a wonderful character – stubborn – infuriating but such a charmer! His story is a joy to read.

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4.0 out of 5 starsJoe is good

By Londonjerez on 18 April 2016

Format: Paperback

A thoroughly enjoyable read.

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Wild at heart  ****

A selection of short plays by Tennessee Williams

If you are a fringe venue and you want to give your actors and your audiences a good evening what do you do? You hold out a welcoming hand to the playwright of genius – Tennessee Williams. A writer who seemed to get right into the head of his characters and allows actors to give of their very best.

Some of the pieces currently at the Pentameters were written when he was very young and are mostly brief character studies – most of whom will appear later in longer plays. These are all very short but very significant and show his enormous sympathy with people in some form of emotional distress. These are just four of his over seventy one-act plays.

At Liberty introduces us to a typical Tennessee diva. An actress, Gloria (Ava Amande) who believes she belongs on Broadway but who has been infected with a fatal disease and her time is short. She still means to make the most of what life she has left and goes out drinking and dancing every night much to the distress of her mother (Victoria Kempton) who waits and worries at home for her.

Mr Paradise (Philip Gerrard) concerns a forgotten poet. His book of poems is over twenty years old and it is picked up by a young woman (Alice Ivor) who comes in search of him. She wants to resurrect him. But he believes poetry has had its day and people are more interested in guns.

Hello from Bertha is set in a red-light district of St Louis and the scene is set and ushered in with the sound of “St Louis Blues” Bertha (Sarah Dorsett) lies in bed, she is too tired to do anything. The woman who is tending her wants her to go to a hospital or at least call a doctor. She is obviously sick but there has been no prognosis. Obviously, she is mentally ill and this part allows the actress a full range of physical drama.   No wonder actors want to work in Williams.

Finally, there is Talk to me like the Rain and Let me Listen. Brad Johnson and Alice Ivor play a couple who cannot communicate with each other.

These short plays are directed by Seamus Newham and most of the six actors play more than one role.

It is an unusual setting for the Pentameters, who usually excel in the elegance of their sets. John Dalton has created a feeling of poverty with its run down, dull brown with just a bed, one or two chairs and a table which get moved around in between each piece. It is played straight through without and interval and lasts about eighty minutes.

This is a brilliant resumption after a fallow period at the Pentameters and a sort time of closure. Long may it continue at this standard

THE NEXT TEN MINUTES AT THE LONDON THEATRE WORKSHOP

On Sunday I had an extraordinary and inspirational afternoon of emotion, drama, comedy and song. Add to this a party atmosphere of genial fellowship, a charismatic host, and limitless alcohol.

This was at Ray Rackham’s new London Theatre Workshops in Leadenhall Market.

The session was for some reason called The Next Ten minutes and it was a showcase of some of the work in development at the LTW and the treats in store for us in 2017.

The company won great accolades for their productions at their previous theatre in the Kings Road, Fulham and most especially for Through The Mill a story of Judy Garland which appeared first in Fulham and most recently at the Southwark Playhouse.

.The pieces of theatre were wide in their coverage.

Ranging from a very touching and funny excerpt from ‘Freddie, Ted and the death of Joe Orton’ by Don Cotter. A title that set it firmly in August 1964. We only saw part of the first act with Robert Styles as Freddie,  Chris McGuigan as Ted, Norma Cohen played a visitor Dilys with  James Neale as her son Glen. Amanda Bailey and Ray Rackham played BBC announcers. It is about a pair of men living together and it resembles slightly a witty version of the TV series ‘Viscous’ However we shall have see the rest to give judgement but what we saw was highly entertaining, the characters well drawn and the comedy extremely well realised.

One of the Rackham’s musical plays was ‘Therapy’ about four people telling about their visit to a counsellor.. Two couples and two single New Yorkers. Involved in the writing and production of musical comedies – the current one being a musical version of ‘Three Sisters’. There are four songs from this musical coming at intervals during the afternoon and performed by Tom Harrison, Belinda Wollaston, Madelaine Nicole Jennings, Anton Tweedale, Chris McGuigan and Alistair Frederick.

‘City of Champions’ is a play by Steve Brown about 1980s teenage superstars who are now grown up, having been through the whole drink and drugs culture and come out the other side. Some of them meet after a long absence. Joel Arnold Harry Anton and Amy Burke. This is beautifully acted and a fascinating subject about what happens to child stars when they eventually achieve adulthood.

.Disturbance is a thriller by Ray Rackham. It takes place during a super storm. Amy has been watching the destruction of live Television and has left it too late to evacuate. She has to stay and wait for the storm to pass. She is surprised by the presence of another person in the building. A man who is looking for a missing cat. They decide to wait together, but there is something not quite right about this stranger. That is all we know, but it is a super beginning to a thriller. The wonderful Nova Skipp plays Amy and Rob Carter is Adam.

But for my money, the star occasion of the afternoon is the play by Carolyn Scott Jeffs. It is called ‘FANNY, a new music hall’ title that filled me with dread. Having been involved in Music Hall for much of my life, I have seen so many duff plays on the subject. However the music hall is simply a setting for a play about the terrible diseases suffered by the poor  and homeless in that era. Fanny is played by the almost over talented Lizzie Wofford who puts a stamp of stardom on every part she plays. She sings to us a couple of music hall songs (we have to join in) in her world shattering voice. And then sits beside accompanist Peter Dodsworth and plays and sings ever so sweetly Marie Lloyd’s song ‘Up in  the Gallery’ Not a dry seat in the house! This is a one woman show which will be seen at the LWT early next year.

The LWT is like a happy family – and everybody has a good time. Ray Rackham is a joyful presence and is in love with musical theatre and all the many highly talent people involved in it. I was so privileged to be invited to this event and am looking to seeing all the shows .next year.

.The afternoon ended in a most appropriate way – with Lucy Sutton singing the number she sang from Through The Mill ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’. Ray Rackham has created his very own Emerald City in the  Land of Oz.

WONDERFUL TOWN

Music by Leonard Bernstein

lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

From the play ‘My Sister Eileen’ by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorovants

and short stories by Ruth Mc Kenney

The Rose and Crown musicals proves that it is possible to put on a bit musical comedy in a room above a pub – of course it helps when the pub belongs to the producer and musical director of All Stars. But they perform positive wonders in that small space.

Here is yet another example of what enormously successful musical theatre can be made in a small venue with an ensemble company. Of course, to have an ensemble that works, the actors all must be able to sing and dance as well as play drama and comedy. And director Tim McArthur always manages to find the pick of the bunch. This is a rich mix of fantastically talented performers.

The story concerns two sisters, Ruth and Eileen from Ohio trying to make their way in New York – the Wonderful Town of the title.

The two girls are perfectly cast. Lizzie Wofford and Francesca Benton-Stace both beautiful but different in temperament. Eileen wants to be an actress and flirts and falls in love with every man she sees – much to her victims’ enjoyment. Lizzie Wofford plays Ruth, the intellectual who outshines every man she meets and sings ‘One hundred Easy ways to Lose a Man’ , Wofford is quite wonderful and gets better every time I see her. She carries a lot of the comedy with her would-be publisher Aneurin Pascoe but there are also villains, idiots, prostitutes – all human life is there in Christopher Street and all are seriously weird.

The plot is a bit of a mess. But enjoyable nevertheless.

However, I have a problem with all ensemble shows these days. Just too much choreography. I long for someone to come on and just sing a song without the rest of the cast jigging about behind them. There are some delicious songs in the score. ‘A Little Bit in Love’ which Eileen sings about every man she meets. The love song ‘It’s love’ the kind of number that stays with you for days afterwards and the hilarious ‘Conga’

My personal favourite which unaccountably brings tears to my eyes is ;The Wrong Note Rag’ which is played beautifully by the MD Aaron Clingham. I would have liked him to have that moment to himself but of course there is a chorus of frenetic dancing going on all the time.

It could be just me, but I do wish they would occasionally stand still.

Nevertheless, whatever I say, this is a great show to go and see. Take the trip to Walthamstow before it comes off., Don’t miss it.

“BOTTOMLEY”

a musical comedy

by Aline Waites and Robin Hunter

Horatio Bottomley 1860 -1933 was one of the most extraordinary characters ever to grace or disgrace British public life in the past hundred years or so.

National hero, exposed swindler, crook, compulsive cheat, Member of Parliament, resident of Maidstone prison.

Founder of JOHN BULL; for a time the most successful publication of its kind in the UK

Racehorse owner, fearless and compulsive gambler, champagne guzzler, beloved man of the people.
.
Womaniser – with a host of petite red haired mistresses established in apartments all over London

Brilliant courtroom advocate, witty, amusing, ruthless, foolish, a touch crazy.

At the end of his quite astonishing life he appeared, pathetically on stage at the Windmill Theatre – a lost and forgotten man. He collapsed on stage after a few performances and died shortly afterwards. His one true love Peggy Primrose was with him to the end.

Optimistic as always , his last words to her were “Goodbye and God bless you. I’ll see you tomorrow”

It wasn’t until four years later, when ill and living in poverty, that she managed to scrape together the cash to collect his ashes and scatter them over the gallops of Alfriston on the Sussex Downs.

MAN OF THE PEOPLE
a film
On the life and times of Horatio Bottomley
1860 – 1933
(a one page concept)

WHO WAS HORATIO BOTTOMLEY?
A boy from the orphanage who aspired to the highest office in the land and ended up as a diversion between the nude acts at the Windmill Theatre.

WHAT WAS HORATIO BOTTOMLEY?

POLITICIAN – member for Hackney – tipped as a future Prime Minister

PRESS BARON – Founder of John Bull = precursor of the tabloid.

BRILLIANT LAY LAWYER – who single handedly won every case but the last – and as a result spent five years in Maidstone prison.

LOVER – with dozens of red haired mistresses stashed all over London and one true love PEGGY PRIMROSE a one time gaiety girl.

ORATOR – who sent millions of young men to their deaths in the first world war by the forcefulness of his recruiting speeches.

CROOK – who cheated the British public out of millions

COUNTRY SQUIRE, GAMBLER, RACE HORSE OWNER, PHILANTHROPIST

EVERY BODY LOVED HIM, EVERYBODY TRUSTED HIM

A man with a golden voice an irresistible charm, an enormous potential for greatness but with one fatal flaw

HE WAS A COMPULSIVE SWINDLER

HORATIO BOTTOMLEY
MAN OF THE PEOPLE

This amazingly charismatic figure is the subject of our play. He was short, stout with great sexual charm. The secret was in his voice. As an orator he was apparently unsurpassed. During the Great War he had only to appear at a recruitment drive in any town in the Country and thousands would enlist to fight in the trenches. He always claimed that this was his patriotic duty. In fact, he charged large sums of money for these stints. One of the scams that eventually led to his downfall.
In court, where he spent a great deal of his time, the voice and the manner could and did convince the jury and judge of his innocence in spite of the damning evidence laid against him . For years he lived a charmed life in the dock.
After his first “Great Escape” THE HANSARD TRIAL, The judge actually presented him with his wig and gown which was mounted in the great hall at the DICKER his country house in Sussex. Frank Harris became his ardent admirer and would never miss a Bottomley appearance in court. F E Smith, later Lord Birkenhead, one of the greatest advocates of his time was a devoted fan, as too was Marshall Hall.
The man could do no wrong. Although the proof of his criminal and at times ruthless wrongdoing was presented over and over again to the Great British Public, they refused to belief it. He was Horatio. He was the Man of the People. He was John Bull!

HORATIO BOTTOMLEY –
MAN OF THE PEOPLE

But of course, he had his enemies. His main nemesis was the wonderfully named Reuben Bigland, a former colleague of Bottomley’s, thought himself hard done by when his friend refused to invest in a scheme to turn water into petrol. He resolved to bring the man down, and after an extraordinary series of trials, mistrials, smear campaigns, managed to do just that. At the age of 62 Bottomley was sentenced to seven years for fraudulent malpractice. He appealed to the jury “ How can you convict me?” but finally they did. His luck had a last run out. Sewing mailbags in Maidstone prison some years later a former parliamentary colleague spotted him “Sewing Bottomley?” he enquired “No reaping milord” was the reply.

His life and career, the rise then the fall of this quite exceptional man we believe could and should be the subject of a quite exceptional Musical. Horatio Bottomley

Horatio William Bottomley was an English financier, journalist, editor, newspaper proprietor, swindler, and Member of Parliament. He is best known for his editorship of the popular magazine John Bull, and for his patriotic oratory during the First World War. His career came to a sudden end when, in 1922, he was convicted of fraud and sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
en.wikipedia.org · Text under CC-BY-SA license

•

THE BOOK CLUB by Roger Hall
at the Kings Head. ***

Performed by Amanda Muggleton as Deborah Martin.

Amanda Muggleton began her career at the Kings Head after her Guildhall Training. Recently she has been working mostly in the Antipodes – it is a great pleasure to see her back to do this often funny one woman show..
Apparently in the past ladies used to get together at Bridge clubs. I actually remember as a child, our house being taken over by card tables and chairs for Whist Drives for the benefit of various charities. There was a great deal of baking involved on these occasions. Nowadays it seems that it is the Book Club that has taken over from the card games.
In Deborah’s book club, the guests are asked to bring something sweet and something dry. In other words desert and a bottle of wine. Each of the characters brings the things that characterises them. The rich woman who brings cheap wine, the sexy one brings Prosecco etc. They all talk about their book choice obviously laughs about Fifty Shades of Grey.
The characters are diverse and all are performed by Amanda Muggleton which gives her an opportunity to use her undoubted talent for dialect and characterisation. She does the Welsh, the Greek and the The farting dog etc.

. But the book club is only the first part of the play. It is just to set up the middle class element of the woman Deborah. She worries about her daughter who is having an affair with a married man. The daughter who thinks of her mother as a dull housewife ‘How can you solve a problem that can’t be sorted by bleach?’ But Deborah likes to clean and to cook. She will cook dinners for her husband and later she will also cook for the writer she meets who is in the middle of Work in Progress. This starts the most interesting part of the play .Deborah has an extramarital affair. This is entertaining and very funny as we follow her journey through guilt and pleasure. He is a man who makes her laugh…a writer separated from his wife and living in squalor, which she finds rather exciting Lovely lines about her lying on the floor and looking at the dust under the bed. She doesn’t know what to say – her thought is ‘Michael where do you keep your vacuum cleaner’
Amanda has performed this many times before but not in England. I must admit to being a little surprised at the audience’s happy response to the book club jokes. I found them difficult to enjoy. A distinguished member of the first night audience said ‘I hate book clubs’ maybe I do too. The play is written by New Zealand author Roger Hall. Directed by Nadia Tass

Here’s to the next time
I hate endings
Lighting a fag after a meal
Extends the pleasure
Stops it from ending too soon
Chewing gum doesn’t have the same effect
But it’s better for your teeth.
Here’s to the next time
Henry Hall’s Guest night
I don’t remember much about it
Except the beginning
“This is Henry Hall
And tonight IS my guest night”
Even then I thought it was a curious inflection.
Here’s to the Next time
Always made me cry
I don’t want to wait until the next time
I want it to go on being this time
I still feel tearful when I hear it
I suppose it’s just
Because I hate endings
Oh well
Here’s to the Next time

Aline Waites June 2008

1 Comment

1
Nigel Leach

AUTUMN

Summer’s gone

So now what?

Crisp dry air

Don’t forget your hat

Leaves

Crunching like cornflakes

Slippery when wet

“Dangerous when wet” starred Esther Williams

Way back in the Spring

Now

Prepare for the Fall

Dangerous when Slippery

Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A lovely story and a great read, and who can ask for more than that?
By Terry Eastham on 28 May 2016
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This book has two things that really appealed to me. The first was the style of writing. it was easy to read and the mixture of present day and past life stories worked really well to explain the personality and spirit of Joe Tully. He isn’t your everyday literary hero, but is a normal man. The years may have aged him, his family may have deserted him ,but he is an old trooper and never loses his sense of who he is and what he wants.

The second factor is that Joe, and most of the other characters, are all involved in the theatre, which is one of my own loves. The author brings all her experience and love of the theatre into her writing and it really shows through. Her description of the play in the back room of the pub was perfect and is still as true today, where some fantastic work is produced in fringe pub theatre venues, as it was in Joe’s day.

4.0 out of 5 starsJust Joe
By W. Russell on 11 Mar. 2016
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Joe is a musician, a man who plays in the pit at West End shows, composes music, fancies his chances and makes the wrong one, living to regret it. We meet him in his old age dumped in a retirement complex by his daughter and awful son in law after he has accidentally set fire to his flat. Joe may be down, but he is not out. The books takes us back to why he got where he is, and springs some splendid surprises about where he will end up. Aline Wates paints a lovely picture of 1960s London, a vanished world, and Joe is a beguiling if infuriating character who encounters some equally entertaining and not too well behaved people along the way. Great holiday reading – if that is not an insulting thing to say. I almost read it in one go, and that was only because I ran out of time on the first attempt to read it. Could easily be an in one go book.

4.0 out of 5 star musicians `jammed` into the wee small hours in basements in tin pan alley and people loved, laughed and drank their lives away
By Stewart Permutt on 21 July 2016
Format: Kindle Edition
Actress-producer Aline Waites` debut novel is a delightful nostalgic trip into sixties and seventies London, where theatres above pubs were just emerging, musicians `jammed` into the wee small hours in basements in tin pan alley and people loved , laughed and drank their lives away. It also shows quite movingly how time takes its toll on the central characters through a series of vignettes from past to present. An easy but satisfying read.

4.0 out of 5 starsA very entertaining read.
By Angela Mowforth on 11 Sept. 2016
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Joe is a musician and a wonderful character – stubborn – infuriating but such a charmer!
His story is a joy to read.

4.0 out of 5 stars Joe is good
By Londonjerez on 18 April 2016
Format: Paperback
A thoroughly enjoyable read.

The book is available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.